>>>Maybe this will help?
>>>http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/77115
>>
>>Ah, so it's a semi-truck because it fits with a semi-trailer? But the default property is truck? I.e. if you say only semi, everyone's supposed to know you mean truck and not any of dozen other things which are also half-somethings?
>>
>>OK... one more for the weirdness of english. I can't think of any other language where you can say just "half" and everyone's supposed to know what you mean.
>
>half understanding is context. LOL

That will be lost in translation.