halven

Halven is a term that appears in English in a limited range of senses. The primary meaning is as an archaic or dialect form of the verb halve, meaning to divide something into two equal parts or to reduce by half.

In historical texts, halven occurs as an alternate spelling of halve in early Modern English and in certain dialect writings. In modern standard English, the preferred forms are halve (present), halved (past), and halving (gerund/participle). Halven is now rarely encountered outside quotations, glossaries of historical language, or stylistic uses that aim to evoke older periods.

As a proper noun, Halven may appear as a surname or place-name in some historical or fictional contexts, though such usage is uncommon and not tied to a single widely recognized origin. In most scholarly or catalog contexts, Halven is treated as a historical spelling variant rather than a distinct lexical item with a separate meaning.

Related terms include halve and halving, which cover the modern lexical field of reducing something to two parts. The term halven is primarily of interest to readers studying the history of English orthography, dialect variation, or the transmission of older texts.