English Explanatory Dictionary

half-life

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The time required for half the nuclei in a sample of an isotope to undergo radioactive decay.
  2. In a chemical reaction, the time required for the concentration of a reactant to fall from a chosen value to half that value.
  3. The time it takes for a substance (drug, radioactive nuclide, or other) to lose half of its pharmacological, physiologic, or radiological activity.
  4. The amount of time it takes for an idea or a fashion to lose half of its influential power.

Pronunciation

/ˈhæfˌlaɪf/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-half-life.wav

Word forms

half-life half-lives

Etymology

From half- + life.

Related words

radioactivity

Translations

Armenian: կիսատրոհման պարբերություն Azerbaijani: yarımdağılma dövrü Belarusian: перыяд паўраспаду Bulgarian: период на полуразпад Catalan: període de semidesintegració Catalan: període radioactiu Chinese Mandarin: 半衰期 Czech: poločas rozpadu Danish: halveringstid Dutch: halfwaardetijd Dutch: halveringstijd Esperanto: duoniĝa tempo Estonian: poolestusaeg Finnish: puoliintumisaika French: demi-vie Galician: período de semidesintegración Georgian: ნახევარდაშლის პერიოდი Georgian: ნახევრად დაშლის პერიოდი German: Halbwertszeit Greek: χρόνος ημιζωής Hindi: अर्धायु Hungarian: felezési idő Icelandic: helmingunartími Indonesian: waktu paruh Irish: leathré Italian: emivita Italian: semivita Japanese: 半減期 Kannada: ಅರ್ಧಾಯುಷ್ಯ Kazakh: жартылай ыдырау мерзімі Korean: 반감기 Latvian: pussabrukšanas periods Lithuanian: pusėjimo trukmė Macedonian: период на полураспад Malay: separuh hayat Malayalam: അർദ്ധായുസ്സ് Norwegian Bokmål: halveringstid Norwegian Nynorsk: halveringstid Persian: نیمهعمر Polish: czas połowicznego rozpadu Polish: okres połowicznego rozpadu Portuguese: meia-vida Portuguese: semivida Romanian: perioadă de înjumătățire Russian: пери́од полураспа́да Serbo-Croatian: vreme poluraspada
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