maint

Inherited from Middle French maint, from Old French maint, meint (“many”), from Frankish *managiþu (“a large quantity, a great many”), from Proto-Germanic *managiþō (“large quantity, multitude”), from Proto-Indo-European *monegʰ- (“many”). Cognate with Middle Dutch menichte (“multitude, great number”), Middle High German mennichte (“quantity”), Old English menigdu (“group of people”). More at many.

Alternatively, the Old French could be from Gaulish *mantī, from Proto-Celtic *mantī (“quantity”) (compare Welsh maint, Old Irish méit), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₁-nt-, from *meh₁- (“to measure”).

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: main, mains, maints

maint m (feminine mainte, masculine plural maints, feminine plural maintes)

1. (archaic or literary) many
   • 1857, Charles Baudelaire, “Le Guignon”, in Les Fleurs du mal:

     — Maint joyau dort enseveli / Dans les ténèbres et l’oubli, / […] / Mainte fleur épanche à regret / Son parfum doux comme un secret

     Many a jewel sleeps shrouded / In darkness and oblivion, / […] / Many a flower spills with regret / Its sweet scent like a secret

maint

1. (rare or literary) many

• “maint”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• matin, mâtin, minât, mitan

From Old French maint.

maint m (feminine singular mainte, masculine plural maints, feminine plural maintes)

1. many; a lot of

• French: maint (archaic)

• meint

From Frankish *menigda, *managda (“a large quantity, a great many”), from Proto-Germanic *managiþō (“large quantity, multitude”), from Proto-Indo-European *monegʰ- (“many”).

Alternatively from Gaulish *mantī, from Proto-Celtic *mantī (“quantity”) (compare Welsh maint, Old Irish méit), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₁-nt-, from *meh₁- (“to measure”).

maint (invariable)

1. very; a lot

maint m (oblique and nominative feminine singular mainte)

1. many

• (adverb): molt, biau cop
• (adjective): molt

• Middle French: maint
  • French: maint (archaic)

From Proto-Brythonic *mėnt, from Proto-Celtic *mantī (“quantity”) (compare Old Irish méit, Irish méid), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₁-nt-, from *meh₁- (“to measure”).

• IPA^(key): /mai̯nt/
• Rhymes: -ai̯nt

maint m (plural meintiau)

1. size, extent
2. quantity

• cymaint (“as much, as many”)
• faint (“how many?”)
• meintiol (“quantitative”)
• rhywfaint (“some amount”)

1. R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “maint”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies