middle
Meanings
- A centre, midpoint.
- The part between the beginning and the end.
- The middle stump.
- The central part of a human body; the waist.
- The middle voice.
- the center of the political spectrum.
- An essay on social or literary issues in a newspaper or magazine, originally placed between the leading articles and the reviews.
- Located in the middle; in between.
- Central.
- Pertaining to the middle voice.
- To take a middle view of.
- To double (a rope) into two equal portions; to fold in the middle.
- To strike (the ball) with the middle portion of the face of the bat.
- A sheading of the Isle of Man.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English myddel, middel, from Old English middel (“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midlą, *midilą, *medalą (“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō (“middle, midst”) (compare *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective)), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Middel (“middle”), West Frisian mul (“middle”), Dutch middel (“means; medicine, cure”), German mittel (“middle”, adjective), Mittel (“means; medicament, remedy”, noun), Luxembourgish Mëttel (“means, method; medicament”), Vilamovian mytuł (“middle”), Yiddish מיטל (mitl, “middle”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk middel (“means”), Icelandic meðal (“average; means, medicine”), Swedish medel (“average, mean, middle”). See also mid.