Etymograph

English

half-life

From half- + life.

A compound of half- + life

Proto-Germanic *halbaz ‘half’

Proto-Germanic *halba-

English half-

Proto-Germanic *lībą ‘life’

Proto-West Germanic *līb ‘body’

Old English līf

Middle English lyf

English life

Today it means

noun The time required for half the nuclei in a sample of an isotope to undergo radioactive decay.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / half-life