media

English

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin media, the feminine nominative of medius (“middle”, adjective), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). In the sense of a unit of dry measure, via Spanish media. Doublet of medium, medio, and mediate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːdiə/, /ˈmɛdiə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmidi.ə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdiə

Noun

media (plural medias or mediae)

1. (anatomy) The middle layer of the wall of a blood vessel or lymph vessel which is composed of connective and muscular tissue.
2. (linguistics, dated) A voiced stop consonant.

   Antonym: tenuis

3. (entomology) One of the major veins of the insect wing, between the radius and the cubitus
4. (zoology) An ant specialized as a forager in a leaf-cutter ant colony.
5. (historical) Synonym of cuarto: a half-fanega, a traditional Spanish unit of dry measure equivalent to about 27.8 L

Usage notes

Not to be confused with medium.

Synonyms

• (vein of insect wing): M

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Latinate plural of medium, particularly as a clipping of communications media and often reinterpreted as singular or mass noun, from Latin media, neuter plural form of medius (“middle”, adjective), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːdiə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmidi.ə/
• Rhymes: -iːdiə

Noun

media

1. plural of medium (only in certain senses)
2. (rare, nonstandard) plural of medium (“someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world”)
   • 1852, Traverse Oldfield , “To Daimonion,” or The Spiritual Medium. Its Nature Illustrated by the History of Its Uniform Mysterious Manifestation When Unduly Excited. , Boston, Mass.: Gould and Lincoln, , pages 14, 36, and 39:

     There is, again, “the writing medium,” the man or woman influenced seeming to lose control of the right arm, when the pen or pencil is taken; […]. There is, finally, “the speaking medium,” the person influenced being lost in a swoon or trance, and then uttering strange and unaccountable sentiments and expressions. Moreover, it is now asserted as the teaching of these media, that the scenes of the Salem witchcraft, so called, were the attempts of the spirits in another world to make their presence known, and to convey communications to the living. […] Media, Persons of Nervous Organism. […] We should not disparage at all, we wish not to do so, the character of those who are generally the media. We allude not to the fact that they are generally young, and inexperienced, and females.

   • 1854, Mary Howitt, compiler, “ Spiritual Manifestations.”, in The History of Magic. , volume II, London: Henry G. Bohn, , pages 491–494:

     [A]n alphabetic and telegraphic correspondence was established between members of the Fox family and the mysterious invisible agent. Two daughters of Mr. Fox appear to have been the principal media in the communications thus far; […] [I]t was calculated that in September, 1853, there were thirty thousand media in the United States. […] Many of the earlier media or vehicles of these communications, persons whose peculiar nervous and electric temperament was thought to favour intercourse with, departed spirits, asserted, and their friends confirmed the fact, that these invisible powers, by certain distinct knockings, corresponding to the place of the letters in the alphabet, were able to convey messages. […] [T]hese rappings assumed protean forms. They would occur […] when the feet of the media were isolated on glass stools, […]. Media with no taste for music, when impressed, would play well on the piano; […]

   • 1854 February 4, Frater , “More from the Spirits in Buffalo”, in Spiritual Telegraph: Devoted to the Illustration of Spiritual Intercourse, volume II, number 40 (whole 92), New York, N.Y.: Partridge and Brittan, page 157, columns 4–5:

     At a private circle, one evening in the early part of last week, whereof the two media of whom I spoke in my last formed a part, we were directed, through the raps, to place a guitar under the table. […] At a subsequent meeting of the same persons, held at the house of Mr. B., the father of Miss B., the medium, these musical performances were all repeated, with the addition of some extra performances with a small hand-bell, which the Spirit called for.

   • 1857, J. G. H. Brown, “Further Revelations as Instructions from the Celestial Powers”, in A Message from the World of Spirits, Shewing the State of Men after Death; , London: Holyoake & Co., , pages 279–280:

     As a confirmation of these revelations, there are several media in different parts of the world who have declared that they have seen various communications from spirits of high orders, who have declared that, for furtherance of God’s eternal will, one central medium or prophet shall be established, […]. Mr. J. Jones, of Coventry, whose son is a medium, has written an able article on this subject, which has appeared in several periodicals, and all the media candidly acknowledge that this prophet has never been revealed unto them, and as these revelations were obtained in 1854, and I had seen the accounts given by other media recently published, declaring to their being informed that a prophet should come, […] I, in August, 1856, determined to send forth the revelations received two years since respecting myself and others, in reference to our instructions upon the establishment of the New Era and the true universal church of Christ, and thus prove that the event was foretold by other media who knew nothing of me, or the affairs into which I had embarked; […]

   • 1872 December 31, T. Grant, A Scientific View of Modern Spiritualism. , London: James Burns, , pages 6–7 and 15:

     [A]s media often rebel, and neglect their appointed guides, they lay themselves open to the influences of evil spirits, who appear to be always alive for mischief, as we find too much the case in the earth-life. It is not the medium alone who is thus provided with a protector; […] There are well-known media in England who have thus in a short time devoured the chief contents of whole libraries. […] I must now get on to the next class, namely, Pictorial Mediumship, which differs from the Symbolic chiefly in the circumstance that the things seen and described by the medium do not in reality exist as material facts, but are only representations, prefiguring or bodying-forth a spiritual or psychical truth. Ezekiel, Daniel, the writer of the Apocalypse, and Swedenborg are instances of Pictorial media, and there are many beautiful examples amongst modern media, of whom T. L. Harris is one of the most eminent; Judge Edmonds, of America, is another instance.

   • 1972, Åke Haglund, Contact and Conflict: Studies in Contemporary Religious Attitudes among Chinese People, Lund: CWK Gleerups, →OCLC, page 191:

     The author visited the temple at Magazine Road, dedicated to the Nine Sovereigns, where tang-ki, media, were at the service of the public in order to communicate between the deceased and the living. […] Several media kicked a heated glowing red iron ball […]. Other media danced to and fro swinging their swords fighting the unseen demons. […] [M]ale devotees led by the media walked across the scorching coals in an act of purification. […] In Penang the day ends with a medium possessed by the “Ninth Sovereign” being carried to the beach.

Noun

media (countable and uncountable, plural media or medias)

1. (often treated as uncountable) Means and institutions for publishing and broadcasting information.

   As a result of the rise of, first, television news and entertainment media and, second, web-based media, traditional print-based media has declined in popularity.

2. (often treated as uncountable) The totality of content items (television shows, films, books, photographs, etc.) which are broadcast or published.

   Fighter pilots are depicted as cool in popular media like Top Gun.

   • 2020, Jordan Raynor, Master of One: Find and Focus on the Work You Were Created to Do, page 161:

     […] yet they are all wildly popular pieces of media, viewed by millions of Christians and non-Christians alike. Why? Because they are first and foremost masterful movies and TV shows. Their creators made something worth seeing and sharing.

3. (usually with a definite article; often treated as uncountable) The journalists and other professionals who comprise the mass communication industry.

   Some celebrities dislike press conferences, where the media bombards them with questions.

4. (computing) Files and data comprising material viewable by humans, but usually not plain text; audiovisual material.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Burmese: မီဒီယာ (midiya)
• Turkish: medya

Translations

Etymology 3

Shortening from multimedia, from multi- + media (“forms of communication”).

Adjective

media (not comparable)

1. (computing) Clipping of multimedia.

   I have media files stored on an external hard drive.

   Adjust media sound in multiple apps

References

• “media”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• media in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "media" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 203.
• “media”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Maedi, aimed, amide, maide

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

media

1. plural of medium

Esperanto

Etymology

From medio +‎ -a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: me‧di‧a

Adjective

media (accusative singular median, plural mediaj, accusative plural mediajn)

1. environmental

Finnish

Etymology

From English media.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmediɑ/,
• Rhymes: -ediɑ
• Syllabification^(key): me‧di‧a

Noun

media

1. media

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “media”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

Galician

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin media.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeðjɐ/

Noun

media f (plural medias)

1. average

Related terms

• medio

Etymology 2

Verb

media

1. (reintegrationist norm) first/third-person singular imperfect indicative of medir

Indonesian

Etymology

• From Dutch media, from Latin media.
• Semantic loan from English media.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: mé‧dia

Noun

media or média

1. medium,
   1. the means, channel, or agency by which an aim is achieved.
   2. (biology) a nutrient solution for the growth.
2. media,
   1. means and institutions for publishing and broadcasting information.
   2. (computing) a particular form of storage for digitized information, such as magnetic tape or discs.

Alternative forms

• medium

Derived terms

Further reading

• “media” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin media.

Adjective

media f sg

1. feminine singular of medio

Noun

media f (plural medie)

1. average, mean (especially an overall, average grade)

Noun

media m (invariable)

1. media

   Synonym: mass media

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

media

1. inflection of mediare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Related terms

• in media
• mediale
• mediano

Anagrams

• edima, madie

Latin

Adjective

media

1. inflection of medius:
   1. nominative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Adjective

mediā

1. ablative/vocative feminine singular of medius

References

• media in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈmetiːa/

Noun

media

1. media

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• mediene

Noun

media n

1. definite plural of medium

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

media n

1. definite plural of medium

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

media

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from English (mass) media.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.dja/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdja
• Syllabification: me‧dia

Noun

media nvir pl

1. plural of medium
2. media (means and institutions for publishing and broadcasting information)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• media in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• media in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: me‧di‧a

Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from English media, mass media.

Noun

media m pl (plural only)

1. (Portugal, journalism) Alternative spelling of média (“media; mass media”)

Usage notes

Both media and média are used in European Portuguese, with media being the more common form, often italicized to denote the foreign origin and to distinguish it from the verb form of medir. In Brazilian Portuguese the variant mídia, in the singular, is often used.

Synonyms

• (mass media): mídia (Brazil)

Etymology 2

Verb

media

1. first/third-person singular imperfect indicative of medir
2. inflection of mediar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

References

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin mediāre, present active infinitive of mediō, from Latin medius.

Verb

a media (third-person singular present mediază, past participle mediat) 1st conj.

1. to mediate
2. to intercede, interpose

Conjugation

Related terms

• mediator

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmedja/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -edja
• Syllabification: me‧dia

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin media.

Noun

media f (plural medias)

1. half (one of two equal parts of any whole)
2. (historical) Synonym of cuarto, half-fanega (a traditional unit of dry measure equivalent to about 27.8 L)
3. stocking (long thin leggings worn by women)

   Synonym: calceta

4. (usually in the plural) pantyhose (stockings connected at the top and pulled up to the waist)

   Synonyms: panti, pantimedia

5. (most of Latin America, Philippines) sock (short unisex cloth covering for feet)

   Synonym: calcetín

6. (mathematics) mean, average (the arithmetic middle in a set of values)

   media geométrica ― geometric mean

7. (anatomy) midline (the medial line of the human body)
8. (usually with 'y') half past (especially as an indication that it is exactly 30 minutes after the hour)

   Son las cinco y media. ― It’s half past five.

   Empezamos a LA media en punto. ― We started at precisely half past LA time.

Usage notes

• In most of Latin America, media covers both sock and stocking as a single concept. When it is necessary to distinguish between the two, calceta is used for "stocking" and calcetín for "sock". In most of Mexico, media is only used for stockings except in reference to American baseball teams.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

media f sg

1. feminine singular of medio

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

media

1. inflection of mediar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “media”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Noun

media

1. indefinite plural of medium
2. definite plural of medium

Usage notes

• While formally a Latin plural, most often used as a collective or plurale tantum (e.g. mass media)

Derived terms

• statsmedia