meia

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• meya (obsolete)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmej.ɐ/ [ˈmeɪ̯.ɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmej.ɐ/ [ˈmeɪ̯.ɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmej.a/ [ˈmeɪ̯.a]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɐj.ɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɐj.ɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmej.ɐ/
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmej.ɐ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈme.ɐ/

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal):

  (file)

• Audio (Northern Portugal):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ejɐ, (Portugal) -ɐjɐ
• Hyphenation: mei‧a

Etymology 1

Adjective

meia

1. feminine singular of meio

Etymology 2

Clipping of meia-calça; compare Catalan mitja and Spanish media for similar developments. Doublet of média and mídia.

Noun

meia f (plural meias)

1. sock (covering for the foot)

   Synonyms: (Rio Grande do Sul) carpim, (Portugal) peúga

Derived terms

• meia de vidro
• meia elástica

Descendants

• Kadiwéu: meeya
• Macanese: mea

Etymology 3

Clipping of meia-entrada.

Noun

meia f (plural meias)

1. (Brazil) A ticket sold for half its normal price, as required by law, for students and children

   Synonym: meia-entrada

Etymology 4

Feminine singular of meio.

Noun

meia f (plural meias)

1. (Portugal, historical) obsolete unit of measure for liquids, equivalent to six pints
2. (when telling time) half past (short form of meia hora)

   O evento termina às três e meia.

   The event ends at half past three.

Noun

meia m or f by sense (plural meias)

1. (Brazil, soccer) midfielder

   Synonyms: (Portugal) médio, meio-campista

Adverb

meia

1. (hypercorrect) misconstruction of meio

   Estou *meia cansada. ― I'm a bit tired.

Usage notes

• The word meia, as an adverb, appears in vulgar speech because of a confusion about the role of meio. In this case, whenever meio, as an adverb, lies right before a feminine adjective, it is confused for an adjective as well, hence hypercorrected into the feminine declension meia. In standard speech, however, Portuguese adverbs are never inflected by grammatical gender.

Etymology 5

Clipping of meia dúzia (“half a dozen”).

Numeral

meia

1. (Brazil) six (6, used instead of seis when it’s necessary to avoid confusion with rhyme três)

   Synonyms: meia-dúzia, seis

Etymology 6

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

meia

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

Further reading

• “meia”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “meia”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “meia”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “meia”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• meia on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt