middle

See also Middle

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• myddle (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English middel, from Old English middel, middle (“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midjilan, *medjilan (“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō, *medjō (“middle, midst”), from Proto-Indo-European *medhy- (“middle, midst”). 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

• IPA: /ˈmɪdəl/, SAMPA: /"mId@l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪdəl

Noun

middle (plural middles)

1. A centre, midpoint

   The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.

2. The part between the beginning and the end.

   I woke up in the middle of the night.

   In the middle of the marathon, David collapsed from fatigue.

3. (cricket) the middle stump
4. The central part of a human body.

Synonyms

• centre, center
• midpoint
• midst

Translations

centre, midpoint

Afrikaans: midde (af) Albanian: mes (sq) m. Arabic: منتصف (ar) (muntáSaf) m., وسط (ar) (wásaT) m. Armenian: մեջտեղ (hy) (meǰteġ), կենտրոն (hy) (kentrom) Burmese: အလယ် (my) Chinese: Mandarin: 中央 (zh) (zhōngyāng), 中間 (zh), 中间 (zh) (zhōngjiān) Min Nan: 中央 (tiong-ng), 中間 (tiong-kan) Czech: střed (cs) m. Danish: midte (da) c. Dutch: midden (nl) n., centrum (nl) n. Esperanto: mezo (eo) Finnish: keskipiste (fi), keskusta (fi) French: milieu (fr) m. German: Mittelpunkt (de) Greek: μέση (el) f. (mési), μέσο (el) (méso) n. Hindi: मध्य (hi) (madhya) f. Hungarian: középpont (hu) Irish: lár (ga) m.

Italian: centro (it) m. Japanese: 中央 (ja) (ちゅうおう, chūō), 中間 (ja) (ちゅうかん, chūkan) Korean: 중앙 (ko) (jung-ang) (中央 (ko)), 중간 (ko) (jung-gan) (中間 (ko)) Kurdish: ناوه‌ند, ناوه‌ڕاست Lithuanian: vidurys (lt) Pashto: منځ (ps) (manz) m. Persian: میان (fa) (miyân) Polish: środek m., serce n. Romanian: mijloc (ro), miez (ro) Russian: середина (ru) (seredína) f. Santali: ᱜᱚᱵᱷᱚ (gabha) Scottish Gaelic: meadhan (gd) m. Slovak: stred (sk) m. Spanish: medio (es) m., centro (es) m. Swedish: mitt (sv) Tagalog: (literally) gitna (tl) Vietnamese: giữa (vi) Welsh: canol (cy) f. West Frisian: middel (fy) n.

part between beginning and end

Armenian: մեջտեղ (hy) (meǰteġ) Dutch: midden (nl) n. Finnish: keskialue, keskikohta, puoliväli German: Mitte (de) Greek: μέση (el) f. (mési) Hungarian: közép (hu) Irish: lár (ga) m., meán (ga) m.

Italian: centro (it) m. Kurdish: ناوه‌ند, ناوه‌ڕاست Pashto: منځ (ps) (manz) m. Persian: میان (fa) (miyân) Polish: środek m. Scottish Gaelic: meadhan (gd) m. West Frisian: midden (fy) n.

central part of human body

Finnish: keskikeho, keskivartalo Greek: μέση (el) f. (mési) Hungarian: derék (hu)

Irish: lár (ga) m. Persian: میان (fa) (miyân), کمر (fa) (kamar)

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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Afrikaans: medium (af) Albanian: mes (sq) m. Arabic: المنتصف Bengali: (majh) Serbo-Croatian: među (bs) Bulgarian: среден (sreden) Catalan: mig (ca) m. Mandarin: 中央 (zhōng yāng) Serbo-Croatian: sredina (hr) f. Estonian: keskpaik (et) Faroese: miðja French: milieu (fr) Georgian: შუაგული (ka) (shuaguli) German: Mitte (de) f. Hebrew: אֶמְצַע (emtza') Icelandic: miðja f. Indonesian: titik tengah (id) Italian: mezzo (it) m., metà (it) f. Japanese: 中間 (ちゅうかん) (chūkan) Korean: 중앙 (jung-ang) Latin: medium (la) Latvian: viduklis Lithuanian: vidurys

Malay: tengah (ms) Mongolian: дунд (dund) Norwegian: midten (no) Old English: middel Persian: کمر (kamar) Portuguese: meio (pt) m. Romanian: mijloc (ro) Sardinian: mesu m. Serbo-Croatian: средина (sh) (sredina) Slovak: polovica (sk) Spanish: medio (es) m. Sranan Tongo: mindri Swahili: kati (sw) Swedish: mitt (sv) Tagalog: gitna Telugu: మధ్య (madhya) Thai: จุดกึ่งกลาง (jòot gèung glaang) Turkish: orta (tr) Ukrainian: середній (uk) (serédnij) Vietnamese: giữa (vi) Welsh: canol (vi) Yucatec Maya: chumuk Zulu: phakathi (nc 12)

Adjective

middle (not comparable)

1. Being in the middle or in-between; as middle point, middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages, middle weight, etc.
2. Central to.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:intermediate

Translations

being in the middle or in-between

Arabic: وسط (wásaʈ) Armenian: միջին (hy) (miǰin) Chinese: 中間, 中间 (zhōngjiàn) Dutch: midden (nl) Finnish: keski- (fi) French: milieu (fr) German: Mittel- (de), mittlere (de) Hungarian: középső (hu) Italian: medio (it) Japanese: 中間の (chūkan no) Korean: 중앙의 (jung-ang-ui) Latvian: vidus-, vidējais

Pashto: منځنى (ps) (manzanai) m. Persian: ميانه (fa) (miyâna or miyâne) Polish: środkowy m. Portuguese: médio (pt) Romanian: mediu (ro) Russian: средний (ru) (srédnij) m. Scottish Gaelic: meadhanach (gd) Slovak: stredný -á -é, prostredný -á -é Spanish: medio (es) Swedish: mellerst (sv) Telugu: మధ్య (madhya)

central

Finnish: keskeinen (fi) Pashto: منځنى (ps) (manzanai) m. Persian: مياني (fa) (miyâni), مركزي (fa) (markazi)

Scottish Gaelic: meadhanach (gd) Swedish: central (sv)

Derived terms

Terms derived from the adjective or noun middle

middle age middle-aged Middle Ages middle class

Middle East middleman middle management middle passage

middle path middleware middle way

Related terms

• mid-
• middle-
• middling

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: soldiers · speech · fast · #879: middle · effort · race · ladies