halfling
A fictional small humanoid creature featuring in fantasy fictionA fictional small humanoid creature featuring in fantasy fiction; a hobbit.
» The brave halfling stumbled from a frying pan straight into a fire.
Meaning
3 sensesA fictional small humanoid creature featuring in fantasy fiction; a hobbit.
Halbling
полуро́сликpoluróslik, ха́флингxáfling
A fictional humanoid born of a human parent and a parent of another race in fantasy fiction.
A half-grown person, between a child and an adult.
Examples
1 sentencesThe brave halfling stumbled from a frying pan straight into a fire.
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From half + -ling. Sense 3 ("half-grown young person") is attested to 1794. It was then usFrom half + -ling. Sense 3 ("half-grown young person") is attested to 1794. It was then used by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings (1954) as an alternative reference to members of his hobbit race. Hobbits were used in the original 1974 releases of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, but in later editions they were changed to "halflings" for legal reasons, as being a pre-existing word rather than one invented by Tolkien.
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