middle
English
Alternative forms
- myddle (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English middel, from Old English middel, middle (“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midlą, *midilą, *medalą (“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō (“middle, midst”) (compare *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective)), from Proto-Indo-European *medhy- (“middle, midst”), compare *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with West Frisian middel, Dutch middel, German mittel (“middle”, adjective), German Mittel (“middle, means”, noun), Danish middel (“means, agent, medicine”). Related also to Swedish medel (“means, medium”), Icelandic meðal (“means, medicine”). See also mid.
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ.ɾɫ̩]
Audio (US) (file) - (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ.dəɫ~ˈmɪ.dʊ]
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ̝.dəɫ~ˈmɪ̝.dʊ, ˈmɪ̝.ɾ-]
Audio (AU) (file) - (General New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈmɘdɘl/, [ˈmə.dɯ(ɫ), ˈmə.ɾ-]
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɪdəl
Noun
middle (plural middles)
- A centre, midpoint.
- The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.
- The part between the beginning and the end.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
- I woke up in the middle of the night.
- In the middle of the marathon, David collapsed from fatigue.
-
- (cricket) The middle stump.
- The central part of a human body; the waist.
- Fasting In A Fast World
- If I have a diet plan and stick to it, it is easy for me to have control over my middle.
- Fasting In A Fast World
- (grammar) The middle voice.
Synonyms
Translations
centre, midpoint
|
|
part between beginning and end
|
|
central part of human body
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
|
Adjective
middle (not comparable)
- Located in the middle; in between.
- the middle point
- middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages
- Central.
- (grammar) Pertaining to the middle voice.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:intermediate
Translations
located in the middle; in between
|
|
central
Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective or noun middle
Middle English
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.