mid
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɪd/
- Rhymes: -ɪd
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English mid, midde, from Old English midd (“mid, middle, midway”), from Proto-West Germanic *midi, from Proto-Germanic *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with Dutch midden (“in the middle”), German Mitte (“center, middle, mean”), Icelandic miður (“middle”, adjective), Latin medius (“middle”, noun and adjective). See also middle. The slang sense may be influenced by terms such as middling and midwit.
Adjective
mid (not comparable)
- Denoting the middle part.
- mid ocean
- Occupying a middle position; middle.
- mid finger
- mid hour of night
- (linguistics) Made with a somewhat elevated position of some certain part of the tongue, in relation to the palate; midway between the high and the low; said of certain vowel sounds, such as, [e o ɛ ɔ].
- (originally African-American Vernacular and Internet slang) Mediocre; of middling quality.
- 2021 July 26, Reanna Cruz, “Lil Nas X, 'INDUSTRY BABY'”, in NPR:
- The song is one of his best, but its real power comes from the accompanying, highly-stylized video wherein Lil Nas X breaks out of a prison populated with Black gay men (and, for an unspecified reason, Jack Harlow in an unseemly role as the Straight White Savior who delivers a verse that is mid at best and inappropriate at worst).
- 2024 April 27, James Poniewozik, “The Comfortable Problem of Mid TV”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- I’ve watched all of these shows. They’re not bad. They’re simply … mid. Which is what makes them, frustratingly, as emblematic of the current moment in TV as their stars’ previous shows were of the ambitions of the past.
- (Internet slang, by extension) Trashy; low-quality.
Translations
Derived terms
See also those listed at Category:English terms prefixed with mid-.
Etymology 2
From Middle English mid, midde, from Old English midd (“midst, middle”, noun), from Proto-Germanic *midją, *midjǭ, *midjô (“middle, center”) < *midjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with German Mitte (“center, middle, midst”), Danish midje (“middle”), Icelandic midja (“middle”). See also median, Latin mediānus.
Noun
mid (plural mids)
- (archaic) middle
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
- About the mid of night come to my tent.
Etymology 3
Clipping of mid-range.
Etymology 4
From or representing German mit, and/or perhaps German Low German mid. Although Middle English had a native preposition mid with this same meaning ("with"), it had fallen out of use by the end of the 1300s[1] and survived into the modern English period only in the compounds midwife and theremid.
Preposition
mid
- (in representations of German-accented English) With.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:mid.
References
- chapter MID, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
German Low German
Alternative forms
- met (in some dialects)
- mit (in some dialects)
- möt (Low Prussian)
Etymology
From Middle Low German mit, mid, from Old Saxon mid. Cognate with North Frisian mits (“with”), Dutch met (“with”), German mit (“with”). For more, see Middle English mid.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɪt/
Hungarian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈmid]
- Hyphenation: mid
Declension
Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | mid | — |
accusative | midet | — |
dative | midnek | — |
instrumental | middel | — |
causal-final | midért | — |
translative | middé | — |
terminative | midig | — |
essive-formal | midként | — |
essive-modal | — | — |
inessive | midben | — |
superessive | miden | — |
adessive | midnél | — |
illative | midbe | — |
sublative | midre | — |
allative | midhez | — |
elative | midből | — |
delative | midről | — |
ablative | midtől | — |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
midé | — |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
midéi | — |
Middle English
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old English mid (“with, in conjunction with, in company with, together with, into the presence of, through, by means of, by, among, in, at (time), in the sight of, opinion of”, preposition), from Proto-West Germanic *midi (“with”).
Cognate with North Frisian mits (“with”), Dutch met (“with”), Low German mit (“with”), German mit (“with”), Danish med (“with”), Icelandic með (“with”), Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “among, between, with”), Albanian me (“with, together”), Sanskrit स्मत् (smat, “together, at the same time”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mid/
References
- “mid (adj. & pref.)” in the Middle English Dictionary (1954–2001)
Etymology 2
Inherited from Old English midd.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mid/
Adjective
mid
- mid-, middle, central, intermediate
- that is or are in the middle or intermediate in time
Descendants
- English: mid
References
- “mid (adj. & pref.)” in the Middle English Dictionary (1954–2001)
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Old Norse miðr, from Proto-Germanic *midjaz (“middle, mid”), from Proto-Indo-European *medʰyo- (“middle”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɪː/
Derived terms
References
- “mid” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *midi. Compare Old Saxon mid, Old High German mit, Old Norse með.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mid/
Preposition
mid
- with
- late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 29:19
- Lēofre mē is þæt iċ hīe selle þē þonne ōðrum menn. Wuna mid mē!
- I'd rather give her to you than to someone else. Stay with me!
- late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 29:19
- by
- c. 992, Ælfric, "THE ANNUNCIATION OF ST. MARY."
- "God underfeng his cnapan Israhel." Mid þam naman syndon getacnode ealle ða þe Gode gehyrsumiað mid soðre eadmodnysse, þa he underfehð to his werode.
- "God hath received his servant Israel." By that name are betokened all those who obey God with true humility, whom he receives into his company.
- c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Holy Day of Pentecost"
- Þa geleaffullan brohton heora feoh, and ledon hit æt ðæra apostola foton. Mid þam is geswutelod þæt cristene men ne sceolon heora hiht besettan on woroldlice gestreon, ac on Gode anum. Se gítsere ðe beset his hiht on his goldhord, he bið swa swa se apostol cwæð, "þam gelíc þe deofolgyld begæð."
- The faithful brought their money, and laid it at the feet of the apostles. By this is manifested that christian men should not set their delight in worldly treasure, but in God alone. The covetous who sets his delight in his gold-hoard, is, as the apostle said, "like unto him who practiseth idolatry."
- c. 992, Ælfric, "THE ANNUNCIATION OF ST. MARY."
- as
- c. 992, Ælfric, "The Assumption of St. John the Apostle"
- Mid þam ðe se apostol Iohannes stop into ðære byrig Ephesum, þa bær man him togeanes anre wydewan líc to byrigenne; hire nama wæs Drusiana.
- As the apostle John was entering the city of Ephesus, there was borne towards him the corpse of a widow to be buried; her name was Drusiana.
- c. 992, Ælfric, "The Assumption of St. John the Apostle"
- on
- late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Prayer of Moses (Mid-Lent)"
- ...ofer ða readan sæ siðodon mid fotum...
- ...they had journeyed on foot over the Red Sea,...
- late 10th century, Ælfric, "The Prayer of Moses (Mid-Lent)"
Descendants
- Middle English: mid
Old Irish
Etymology
From Proto-Celtic *medu, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu.[1]
Noun
mid n (genitive meda)
- mead
- c. 815-840, “The Monastery of Tallaght”, in Edward J. Gwynn, Walter J. Purton, transl., Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, volume 29, Royal Irish Academy, published 1911-1912, paragraph 40, pages 115-179:
- mesce tre ol corma(e) nó chingiti meda(e)
- tipsiness through drinking beer or a goblet of mead
Inflection
Neuter u-stem | |||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | midN | — | — |
Vocative | midN | — | — |
Accusative | midN | — | — |
Genitive | medoH, medaH | — | — |
Dative | midL | — | — |
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
|
Mutation
Old Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Nasalization |
mid also mmid after a proclitic |
mid pronounced with /ṽ(ʲ)-/ |
unchanged |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
References
- Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*medu”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 261
Further reading
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 mid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Old Saxon
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *midi.
Somali
Etymology
From Proto-Cushitic. Cognates include Burji micca and Hadiyya mato.
References
- Somali Wörterbuch by M. A. Farah - D. Heck (Buske Verlag, Hamburg 1993)