medio

From Spanish medio (“half, half-celemin, half-real, etc.”), from Latin medius (“half”), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). Doublet of medium, media, and mediate.

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medio (plural medios)

1. (historical) A traditional Spanish unit of dry measure, equivalent to about 2.3 L.
2. (historical) Any of various former Spanish and Latin American half-pieces, particularly the half-real both as a coin and a notional unit of account.

• maquila (Spain), copin (Asturias), copino

• (unit of dry volume): cuartillo (¹⁄₂ medio), celemin (2 medios), cuartilla (6 medios), hemina (10 medios), cuarto or media (12 medios), fanega (24 medios), saco (48 medios), carga (96 medios), cahiz (288 medios)
• (currency): real (2 medios), peso (16 medios) (some contexts)

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medio

Wikipedia ^eo

Likely a clipping of various Romance terms; compare Spanish medio ambiente, Portuguese meio ambiente, Catalan medi ambient. Ultimately from Latin medius. Doublet of mediano and mezo.

• IPA^(key):

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -io
• Hyphenation: me‧di‧o

medio (accusative singular medion, plural medioj, accusative plural mediojn)

1. environment (natural world or ecosystem)

• medioprotektado

13th century. Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese medio, medeo, a learned borrowing from Latin medius.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmedjo/
• Rhymes: -edjo
• Hyphenation: me‧dio

medio (feminine media, masculine plural medios, feminine plural medias)

1. half
2. average, typical

   Synonym: mediano

3. (figuratively) the greater part
4. central, at the midpoint

medio

1. partly, somewhat, not completely

   É medio parvo.

   He is somewhat stupid.

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “medio”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “medea”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “medio”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “medio”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

medio (plural medios)

1. means
2. medium (material in/through which certain wave phenomena operate)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.djo/
• Rhymes: -ɛdjo
• Hyphenation: mè‧dio

medio m (plural medi)

1. (anatomy) middle finger, tall man

   Synonym: dito medio

Borrowed from Latin medius, whence also Italian mezzo (an inherited doublet).

medio (feminine media, masculine plural medi, feminine plural medie)

1. mean, average

• mediamente

medio

1. first-person singular present indicative of mediare

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈme.di.oː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.di.o/,

Found in Late and Vulgar Latin. From medius.

mediō (present infinitive mediāre, perfect active mediāvī, supine mediātum); first conjugation

1. to halve, divide in the middle
2. to be in the middle

• mediātus
• mediātor

mediō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of medius

• “medio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• medio 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)
• medio in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to remove a person: e or de medio tollere
    
  • (ambiguous) to leave a thing undecided: aliquid in medio, in dubio relinquere (Cael. 20. 48)
    
  • (ambiguous) to publish, make public: in medio ponere (proponere)
    
  • (ambiguous) let us leave that undecided: hoc in medio relinquamus
    

medio

1. first-person singular present indicative of mediar

• IPA^(key): /ˈmedjo/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -edjo
• Syllabification: me‧dio

Borrowed directly from Latin medius (“half”) rather than inherited through an Old Spanish form, possibly because the likely forms *meo and *meyo would have closely resembled mear (“to piss”),^[1][2] ultimately from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). Compare Portuguese meio, which retained its original inherited form. In reference to spiritual mediums, calqued from Latin medium. Doublet of media. Cognate with English medium.

medio (feminine media, masculine plural medios, feminine plural medias)

1. half (of or related to one of two equal divisions of a whole)

   media hora ― half hour

   media manzana ― half an apple

2. (inexact) half (of or related to any large proportion of a whole)

   Medio Nueva York fue a los toros. ― Half of New York went to the bullfight.

3. middle (placed more or less halfway between two positions, times, or alternatives)

   clase media ― middle class

4. average (of or related to the arithmatic middle in a set of values)

   velocidad media ― average speed

5. average (of or related to a representative example of a group)

   el español medio ― the average Spaniard... your typical Spaniard...

6. (art) tasteful, bourgeois (well decorated or executed but not sublime)
7. (linguistics) mid (of or related to the position of vowel articulation between open and closed)
8. (grammar) middle, mediopassive (of or related to grammatical voices neither active nor passive)
9. (Chile, slang, ironic, intensifier) impressive (extremely large or good)

   ¡Media bolsa! ― Such a huge bag! What an awesome bag! Whatta bag!

medio

1. half, incompletely (indicating an action interrupted or only partially done)

   medio vestido ― half-dressed

2. half, kind of (particularly used to partially soften negative descriptions)

   Synonym: un poco

   Es medio idiota. ― He’s a bit of an idiot... He’s kind of an idiot...

medio m (plural medios)

1. half (one of two equal parts of any whole)

   Synonym: mitad

   1. (mathematics) half (any fraction with a denominator of 2)
   2. (historical) medio, half-celemin (a traditional unit of dry measure equivalent to about 2.3 L)

      Synonyms: maquila (Spain); copín (Asturias); copino

   3. (historical) medio (the usual container used to measure medios)
   4. (historical, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) medio, half-real (a former coin)
   5. (historical, Dominican Republic) medio, half-peso (a former coin)
   6. (historical, Ecuador) medio, half-sucre (a former coin)
   7. (historical, Panama) medio, half-balboa (a former coin)
   8. (historical, Bolivia) medio, half-boliviano (a former coin)
   9. (historical, Mexico) medio, half-octavo (a former coin equal to ¹⁄₁₆ real)
   10. (slang, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru) medio (following decimalization, the notional amount of 6+¹⁄₄ centavos as half of the notional amount of a ¹⁄₈-peseta real and later by extension any 5 centavo coin)
2. middle (the part of anything located halfway between its ends or extremes in time or along one dimension in space)

   Se despertó en medio de la noche. ― She awoke in the middle of the night.

   1. (sports) midfielder, halfback (a person forming part of the middle or central defensive or offensive line, especially in soccer)
   2. (spiritualism) Synonym of médium (“medium”) (a person claiming to the ability to communicate with the dead)
   3. (politics, business) cut (the payment demanded to permit or facilitate some action, especially as a bribe)
   4. (philosophy) middle term (the general category that appears in both premises and disappears in the conclusion)
   5. (mathematics, usually in the plural) mean (the second and third terms of a proportion)
3. (inexact) center, heart (the innermost part of anything with regard to all dimensions)

   Alemania está en medio de Europa. ― Germany is in the middle of Europe.

   en medio de la nada ― in the middle of nowhere

4. (often in the plural) method, way, means (the actions or things by which some goal is achieved or intended to be achieved, something serving some purpose)

   El fin justifica los medios. ― The end justifies the means.

   por todos los medios ― by any means

   Se mejoraron los medios de transporte. ― Means of transport were improved.

   1. Synonym of diligencia (“diligence, hard work”) (as the generally effective means to achieve any goal)
   2. (usually in the plural) medium (a means of communication, especially mass communication)
5. (physics) medium (the physical space and substance through which some phenomenon occurs)

   La velocidad de la luz depende del medio. ― The speed of light depends on the medium.

   1. (art) medium (the physical substances with which art is made)

      ¿Cuál es tu medio de pintura favorito?

      What's your favorite painting medium?

   2. environment (the circumstances that affect a person or animal's development)

      Synonyms: ambiente, medio ambiente

   3. society (the circumstances in which a person or group of people lives)
   4. (usually in the plural) circle (a particular segment of society)

      medios aristocráticos ― aristocratic circles... the aristocracy...

   5. habitat (the circumstances in which an animal or group of animals lives)

• (unit of dry volume): cuartillo (¹⁄₂ medio), celemín (2 medios), cuartilla (6 medios), hemina (10 medios), cuarto or media (12 medios), fanega (24 medios), saco (48 medios), carga (96 medios), cahíz (288 medios)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

medio

1. first-person singular present indicative of mediar

• “medio”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

• miedo