Transparent half circle cut out of a div

Question

I would like to make a transparent cut out half circle shape using only CSS3. The only requirement is that all the elements that form the shape must be black or transparent.

I cannot use a black rectangle with a white circle on top of it because the half circle has to be transparent and let the background show through.

Desired shape :

Answer 1

May be can do it with CSS ::after pseudo property like this:

body {
  background: green;
}

.rect {
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
  position: relative;
  margin-top: 100px;
  margin-left: 100px;
}

.circle {
  display: block;
  width: 100px;
  height: 50px;
  top: -50px;
  left: 0;
  overflow: hidden;
  position: absolute;
}

.circle::after {
  content: '';
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  -moz-border-radius: 100px;
  -webkit-border-radius: 100px;
  border-radius: 100px;
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
  position: absolute;
  top: -100px;
  left: -40px;
  border: 40px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
}

<div class="rect">&nbsp;<span class="circle"></span></div>

View on JSFiddle