Halfling
An illustration of a halfling.
Genre	Fantasy
Other name	Hobbit

Halflings are a fictionalrace found in somefantasy works. They tend to be depicted as physically similar tohumans, except about half as tall and not as stocky as the similarly sizeddwarves. Halflings are often depicted as having slightlypointed ears along with leathery-soled feet which are covered with curly hair. They tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky. The term is derived for the word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a child who is not yet fully grown. Halflings are found in manyfantasynovels andgames, including as an alternative term forhobbits inJ. R. R. Tolkien'sMiddle-earth and as playable humanoid races inDungeons & Dragons.

The members of the fictional halflingrace are often depicted as similar tohumans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly sizeddwarves. Similar to the depiction ofhobbits in the works ofJ. R. R. Tolkien, which are sometimes called halflings, they have slightlypointed ears, their feet are covered with curly hair with leathery soles, and they tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky.

Halfling is a word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a boy or girl who is not yet fully grown; a youth, an adolescent, and formerly sometimes a boy or young man employed in a junior role in domestic, agricultural, or industrial work.^[1]Halflin derives from the Scot wordhauflin, which was used before bothThe Hobbit andDungeons & Dragons^[2] and has the synonymshobbledehoy andhobby.^[2]

Halflings are found in somefantasynovels andgames. InThe Lord of the Rings,J. R. R. Tolkien occasionally used the term "halfling" to describe hobbits, since they are beings that are half the height of men. For instance, when the hobbitPippin Took appears in a royal guard's uniform inMinas Tirith, the people of that city call him the "Prince of Halflings".^[3] The term has since been used in other fiction works as an alternate name for hobbit-like peoples inspired byTolkien's legendarium.^[4]

Halflings have long been one of the playable humanoid races inDungeons & Dragons (D&D),^[2] starting with the original 1974 Men & Magic,^[5] where the termhobbit was used.^[2] Later editions of the original D&D box set began using the namehalfling as an alternative tohobbit^[6] for legal reasons.^[7] Besides licensed D&D novels, halfling characters have appeared in various tabletop and video games.

Some fantasy stories use the termhalfling to describe a person born of a human parent and a parent of another race, often a female human and a maleelf.^[8]Terry Brooks describes characters such asShea Ohmsford from hisShannara series as a halfling of elf–human parentage. InJack Vance'sLyonesse series of novels, "halfling" is a generic term for beings such asfairies,trolls andogres, who are composed of both magical and earthly substances.^[9] InClifford D. Simak's 1959 short story "No Life of Their Own", halflings are invisible beings in a parallel dimension who, likebrownies orgremlins, bring good or bad luck to people.^{[citation needed]}

• Fictional humanoids
• Fictional human hybrids
• Fictional species and races

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