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)

1. Denoting the middle part.

   mid ocean

2. Occupying a middle position; middle.

   mid finger

   mid hour of night

3. (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, .
4. (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).

5. (Internet slang, by extension) Trashy; low-quality.

Preposition

mid

1. Amid.

   Mid the best.

Translations

Derived terms

See also those listed at Category:English terms prefixed with mid-.

Related terms

• midday
• midnight

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)

1. (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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     About the mid of night come to my tent.

Etymology 3

Clipping of mid-range.

Noun

mid (plural mids)

1. (disc golf) A 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 and survived into the modern English period only in the compounds midwife and theremid.

Preposition

mid

1. (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.

Anagrams

• DMI, Dim, IDM, IM'd, IMD, MDI, dim, dim.

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/

Preposition

mid

1. (in some dialects) with

Hungarian

Etymology

mi (“what”) +‎ -d (“your, of yours”, possessive suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: mid

Pronoun

mid

1. second-person singular single-possession possessive of mi

Declension

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”).

Alternative forms

• med, medde, midde, mide, mit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mid/

Preposition

mid

1. with
2. amid, amidst

References

• “mid (adj. & pref.)” in the Middle English Dictionary (1954–2001)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English midd.

Alternative forms

• med, medde, midde, mide, mit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mid/

Adjective

mid

1. mid-, middle, central, intermediate
2. 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/

Adjective

mid m or f (neuter midt, comparative midre, superlative midst)

1. middle

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• “mid” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

Old English

Alternative forms

• mit, miþ, mið
• mið — Mercian, Northumbrian

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *midi. Compare Old Saxon mid, Old High German mit, Old Norse með.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mid/

Preposition

mid

1. 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!

2. 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."

3. 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.

4. 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,...

Descendants

• Middle English: mid

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *medu, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu.

Noun

mid n (genitive meda)

1. 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

Descendants

• Middle Irish: mid
  • Irish: meá
  • Scottish Gaelic: meadh

Mutation

References

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

Alternative forms

• midi, mit, mith, met

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *midi.

Preposition

mid

1. with

Adverb

mid

1. with, together, along

Somali

Etymology

From Proto-Cushitic. Cognates include Burji micca and Hadiyya mato.

Numeral

mid

1. one

References

• Somali Wörterbuch by M. A. Farah - D. Heck (Buske Verlag, Hamburg 1993)