medieval

See also: médiéval

English

A medieval castle.

Alternative forms

• medieveal
• mediaeval (dated)
• mediæval (archaic)

Etymology

From French médiéval (“medieval”), from Latin medium (“middle”) +‎ aevum (“age”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmɛd.iˈiː.vəl/, /ˌmiː.diˈiː.vəl/, /mɪdˈiː.vəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɪdˈi.vəl/, /ˌmɛdiˈi.vəl/
• Rhymes: -iːvəl

Adjective

medieval (comparative more medieval, superlative most medieval)

1. Of or relating to the Middle Ages, the period from approximately 500 to 1500 AD.
2. Having characteristics associated with the Middle Ages in popular, modern cultural perception:
   1. Archaic.
   2. Brutal.
      • 1969 March 24, New York Magazine, page 58:

        Brute force can get you into any apartment if you want to get medieval about it.

      • 2003, Robert Ludlum, The Janson Directive, page 579:

        "Oh, what a nifty idea," Collins said dryly. "Get a bunch of angry brothers with a blowtorch and some pliers and get medieval on his ass."

Derived terms

• antimedieval
• get medieval
• Medieval Climate Anomaly
• Medieval Climate Optimum
• medievaldom
• medieval embroidery
• medievalesque
• medieval guipure
• medievalish
• medievalism
• medievalist
• medievalistic
• medievalistics
• medievality
• medievalize
• Medieval Latin
• medieval literature
• medievally
• medievalness
• medievaloid
• medieval studies
• medieval synthesis
• Medieval Warm Period
• medievistics
• medireview
• neomedieval
• nonmedieval
• post-medieval
• postmedieval
• premedieval
• pseudomedieval
• unmedieval

Translations

of or relating to the Middle Ages

• Aragonese: meyebal
• Armenian: միջնադարյան (hy) (miǰnadaryan)
• Asturian: medieval
• Bashkir: урта быуат (urta bıwat)
• Belarusian: сярэдневяко́вы (sjarednjevjakóvy)
• Bulgarian: средновеко́вен (bg) (srednovekóven)
• Catalan: medieval (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中世紀的 / 中世纪的 (zh) (zhōngshìjì de)

• Czech: středověký (cs)
• Danish: middelalderlig
• Dutch: middeleeuws (nl), (mediaevaal) mediëvaal
• Esperanto: mezepoka (eo)
• Estonian: keskaeg (et)
• Finnish: keskiaikainen (fi)
• French: médiéval (fr)
• Galician: medieval (gl)
• German: mittelalterlich (de)
• Greek: μεσαιωνικός (el) (mesaionikós)
• Hebrew: בֵּינַיְמִי m (beináimi)
• Hungarian: középkori (hu)
• Ido: mezepoka
• Irish: meánaoiseach
• Italian: medievale (it) m or f
• Japanese: 中世の (ja) (ちゅうせいの, chūsei no)
• Kazakh: ортағасырлық (ortağasyrlyq)
• Korean: 중세의 (ko) (jungse'ui)
• Latin: (New-Latin) mediaevalis
• Macedonian: средновековен (srednovekoven)
• Marathi: मध्ययुगीन (madhyayugīn)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: middelaldersk, middelalderlig

• Occitan: medieval (oc), medieval (oc)
• Polish: średniowieczny (pl)
• Portuguese: medieval (pt)
• Romanian: medieval (ro)
• Russian: средневеко́вый (ru) (srednevekóvyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: средњовѐко̄внӣ, средњовјѐко̄внӣ

  Roman: srednjovèkōvnī, srednjovjèkōvnī (sh)

• Slovak: stredoveký (sk)
• Slovene: srednjeveški (sl)
• Spanish: medieval (es)
• Swedish: medeltida (sv)
• Tagalog: medyebal
• Tajik: асримиёнагӣ (tg) (asrimiyonagi)
• Ukrainian: середньові́чний (serednʹovíčnyj)
• Welsh: canoloesol

having characteristics associated with the Middle Ages

• Armenian: միջնադարյան (hy) (miǰnadaryan)
• Danish: middelalderlig
• Dutch: middeleeuws (nl), (mediaevaal) mediëvaal
• Finnish: keskiaikainen (fi)
• French: médiéval (fr), moyenâgeux (fr)
• Galician: medieval (gl) m or f
• German: mittelalterlich (de)
• Greek: μεσαιωνικός (el) (mesaionikós)
• Hungarian: középkorias (hu)
• Irish: meánaoiseach
• Portuguese: medieval (pt)
• Russian: средневеко́вый (ru) (srednevekóvyj)
• Swedish: medeltida (sv)

brutal — see brutal

Noun

medieval (plural medievals)

1. Someone living in the Middle Ages.
2. A medieval example (of something aforementioned or understood from context).

   Thank God for modern remedies: the medievals were often useless or even harmful.

Translations

a medieval thing

• Dutch: middeleeuws (nl)
• French: médiéval (fr) m
• German: mittelalterlich (de) (adjective; the substantive being understood by context)
• Greek: μεσαιωνικός (el) m (mesaionikós)
• Portuguese: medieval (pt) m or f
• Spanish: medieval (es)

someone living in the Middle Ages

• Dutch: middeleeuwer (nl) m
• French: médiéval (fr) m
• Greek: μεσαιωνικός (el) m (mesaionikós)
• Portuguese: medieval (pt) m or f

Further reading

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Mediæval, medieval, a. and sb.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VI, Part 2 (M–N), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 290, column 1.

Aragonese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /medjeˈbal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: me‧die‧val

Adjective

medieval (plural medievals)

1. medieval

References

• “medieval”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [mə.ði.əˈβal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [mə.ði.əˈval]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [me.ði.eˈval]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

medieval m or f (masculine and feminine plural medievals)

1. medieval

Derived terms

• grec medieval

Galician

Adjective

medieval m or f (plural medievais)

1. medieval

Portuguese

Etymology

From medievo (from Latin medium (“middle”) +‎ aevum (“age”)) +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /me.d͡ʒi.eˈvaw/ [me.d͡ʒɪ.eˈvaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /me.d͡ʒjeˈvaw/ [me.d͡ʒjeˈvaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨ.djɛˈval/ [mɨ.ðjɛˈvaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨ.djɛˈval/ [mɨ.ðjɛˈvaɫ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨ.djɛˈbal/ [mɨ.ðjɛˈβaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨ.djɛˈva.li/ [mɨ.ðjɛˈva.li]

• Hyphenation: me‧di‧e‧val

Adjective

medieval m or f (plural medievais)

1. medieval

Related terms

• Idade Média

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French médiéval.

Adjective

medieval m or n (feminine singular medievală, masculine plural medievali, feminine and neuter plural medievale)

1. medieval

Declension

Declension of medieval

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	medieval		medievală		medievali	medievale
	definite	medievalul		medievala		medievalii	medievalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	medieval		medievale		medievali	medievale
	definite	medievalului		medievalei		medievalilor	medievalelor

Spanish

Alternative forms

• medioeval (dated)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /medjeˈbal/ [me.ð̞jeˈβ̞al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: me‧die‧val

Adjective

medieval m or f (masculine and feminine plural medievales)

1. medieval

   El castellano antiguo también se llama español medieval.

   Old Castilian is also called Medieval Spanish.

Further reading

• “medieval”, 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