When a whole is divided into two identical parts , it is divided into halves . A half, therefore, is one of two equal fragments into which something is cut or sectioned.
The point that, on a certain surface, is equidistant from the ends is also called half. The idea of half, on the other hand, refers to that which contains or contemplates the same proportion as the other part .
For example: "As soon as he got home, Juan devoured half of a pizza in a few moments" , "The boy cut the chocolate in half and shared it with his girlfriend" , "Half of the car was destroyed by the violent crash.”
In everyday life, halves are usually approximate . Many times it is difficult to specify the exact content or precise measurement of the elements.
Suppose a man wants to share an apple with his son. The subject takes a knife and cuts the fruit in half, giving one half to his descendant and keeping the other. Most likely, both halves will not weigh the same.
Take the case of a young man who makes a 400 kilometer trip by car to go to a beach. Once he arrives at his destination, he calls his parents to let them know that he arrived safely and tells them that, during the journey, he stopped halfway to have lunch. This does not mean that the traveler stopped exactly at 200 kilometers , although it is understood that he made the stop around that distance.
Given all these examples, we can understand that the concept of half has two main uses: one that refers to an exact measurement and another that serves to express a quantity approximately. Not only is its meaning imprecise in everyday speech, but it also has a subjective nuance: many times we believe that we are talking about half of something and that is why we use this word, even if we have not carried out any type of measurement.
Returning to the case of the car trip, saying that we did something or that something happened "halfway there" does not always mean that the sender has calculated the time or distance from the origin to that point and has compared it with the remaining points, but rather Sometimes this expression is used simply to imply that the whole has been divided into two parts .
In the case of age , for example, the term half can also be used to refer to the large difference in years between two people, even if it is not a 2 to 1 relationship. For example, if a person tries to convince another to break up with her partner because he is much older than her, she can use phrases like "you are twice your age" or "you are half her age", even if this is not one hundred percent true.
Being a word that serves to express the result of a measurement or an appreciation of size, duration or distance, among other magnitudes, it is not inherently good or bad, but this nuance can be added or implied by the speaker completely. optional. For example, if we are talking about an apple that is cut into two equal parts, when naming each of its halves there is usually no judgment, so to speak, that qualifies them. However, in a given context, where the fact that it was split in two is relevant, this can change: "The stingy guy only gave me half," "I didn't expect him to give me half, he was very generous." .