six-and-a-half
UK[ˌsɪks ən ə ˈhɑːf]US[ˌsɪks ən ə ˈhæf]
n
The number or quantity represented by six and a half.
adj
Measuring or amounting to six and a half.
Etymology
The phrase "six-and-a-half" is a modern English compounding of the cardinal number "six," the conjunction "and," the indefinite article "a," and the noun "half." Its structure follows the ancient Germanic and Old English pattern for forming fractional numbers, seen in constructions like "two and twenty." The word "six" originates from Proto-Germanic sehs, from Proto-Indo-European swéḱs. "Half" comes from Old English "healf," meaning "side, part," from Proto-Germanic halbaz. The logic of the phrase is purely arithmetic, literally stating the sum of the integer six and the fractional one-half, a straightforward method for expressing quantities that has been used in English for centuries.
Analysis
This is a fixed, idiomatic compound phrase. It is not productively formed from separable morphemes in modern English but is a lexicalized combination of number words and a conjunction.
Examples
The recipe calls for six-and-a-half cups of flour.
He waited for six-and-a-half hours.
The child was six-and-a-half years old.