Wiktionary

mid

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mid"

Translingual

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Etymology

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Abbreviation of English Mandaic with d and i interchanged.

Symbol

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mid

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Mandaic.

See also

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *me
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-?
Proto-Indo-European *-dʰe
Proto-Indo-European *médʰi
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos
Proto-Germanic *midjaz
Proto-West Germanic *midi
Old English midd
Middle English mid
English mid

    Inherited 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

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    mid (no comparative, superlative midmost)

    1. Occupying a middle position; middle.
      • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:
        Passing through the silent village, he heard the clock tell the mid hour of night.
      • 2023 November 10, Daniel Brown, “League of Legends Worlds: Can ‘Golden Left Hand’ top ‘Faker’ to earn a grand slam?”, in The New York Times‎[3], archived from the original on 8 June 2024:
        Though teams from China have hoisted the Summoner’s Cup, which goes to the Worlds champion, it’s always been South Korean mid laners who have starred on those teams. Erzberger said Knight wants to be the first Chinese mid laner to hoist that trophy — and maybe become a national treasure himself.
    2. (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, [e o ɛ ɔ].
    3. (originally African-American Vernacular and Internet slang) Mediocre; of middling quality.
      Synonyms: meh, pedestrian, unexceptional; see also Thesaurus:mediocre
      • 2021 July 26, Reanna Cruz, “Lil Nas X, 'INDUSTRY BABY'”, in NPR‎[4], archived from the original on 27 May 2022:
        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).
      • 2024 April 27, James Poniewozik, “The Comfortable Problem of Mid TV”, in The New York Times‎[5], →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 July 2024:
        I’ve watched all of these shows. They’re not bad. They’re simply … mid. Which is what makes them, frustratingly, as emblematic of the current moment in TV as their stars’ previous shows were of the ambitions of the past.
      • 2025 September 28, Rachel Aroesti, “In an era of AI slop and mid TV, is it time for cultural snobbery to make a comeback?”, in The Guardian‎[6], →ISSN, archived from the original on 8 October 2025:
        In an era of AI slop and mid TV, is it time for cultural snobbery to make a comeback? [title]
      • 2026 January 28, “They're SO MAD that Gamers Rejected Highguard”, in YouTube‎[7]:
        ...it just seems devoid of passion; it's just so generic, so mid, and in some aspects just bad that it seems like it's a game that just exists to exist... (02:20)
    4. (Internet slang, by extension) Trashy; low-quality.
      Synonyms: base, lousy, substandard; see also Thesaurus:low-quality
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    Translations
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    Noun

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    mid (uncountable)

    1. (location, online gaming, slang) The middle of the battlefield.
      We need to retake mid.

    Adverb

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    mid (not comparable)

    1. (location, online gaming, slang) To or into the middle of the battlefield.
      Everyone head mid.

    Preposition

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    mid

    1. (archaic) Amid.
      mid the best
      • 1855, Alexander Carlile, Poems, page 70:
        To shelter quivering natures, wrap them round / In downy softness, and impalace them / Mid fair magnificence, where all is found / Abundant as the longing heart can wish.
    Translations
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    Derived terms

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

    terms derived from adjective and preposition
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    Etymology 2

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    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

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    mid (plural mids)

    1. (archaic) Middle.

    Etymology 3

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    Clipping of mid-range.

    Noun

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    mid (plural mids)

    1. (disc golf) A mid-range.

    Etymology 4

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    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 general use by the mid 1400s[1] and survived into the modern English period only in sporadic use and the compounds midwife and theremid.

    Alternative forms

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    Preposition

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    mid

    1. (chiefly in representations of Dutch- or German-accented English) With.

    References

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    1. ^ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Mid”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

    Anagrams

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    Bouyei

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    Etymology

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    From Proto-Tai *mitᴰ (“knife”).[1] The long vowel of มีด [miːtᴰᴸ²] shows irregularity as a reflex of it.[1]

    In Southwestern Tai, cognate with Thai มีด (mîit), Lao ມີດ (mīt), Lü ᦙᦲᧆ (miid), Tai Dam ꪣꪲꪒ, Shan မိတ်ႈ (mīt), Ahom 𑜉𑜢𑜄𑜫 (mit).

    In Central Tai, cognate with Nong Zhuang mid.[2]

    In Northern Tai, cognate with Zhuang mid.

    Compare Proto-Be *miːtᴰ².

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    mid (Bouyei character ⿰刀乂)

    1. knife

    References

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    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2009) The Phonology of Proto-Tai (Doctoral dissertation)‎[1], Department of Linguistics, Cornell University , page 339
    2. ^ Zhang, Junru (张 均如); et al. (1999) 壮语方言研究 [A Study of Zhuang Dialects] (in Chinese), Chengdu: Sichuan Ethnic Publishing House (四川民族出版社), page 670

    Hungarian

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    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): [ˈmid]
    • Hyphenation: mid

    Pronoun

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    mid

    1. second-person singular single-possession possessive of mi
      • 1990, Cseh Tamás, “Csönded vagyok”, in Új dalok:
        Most elmondom, mid vagyok, mid nem neked.
        Now I say it, what I am, what I'm not to you.
        (literally, “your what I am”)

    Declension

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    Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
    singular plural
    nominative mid —
    accusative midet —
    dative midnek —
    instrumental middel —
    causal-final midért —
    translative middé —
    terminative midig —
    essive-formal midként —
    essive-modal — —
    inessive midben —
    superessive miden —
    adessive midnél —
    illative midbe —
    sublative midre —
    allative midhez —
    elative midből —
    delative midről —
    ablative midtől —
    non-attributive
    possessive – singular     		midé —
    non-attributive
    possessive – plural     		midéi —

    Low German

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    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

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    Preposition

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    mid (German Low German)

    1. (in some dialects) with

    Middle English

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    Etymology 1

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    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

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    Pronunciation

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    Preposition

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    mid

    2. with
    3. amid, amidst
    References
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    Etymology 2

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      Inherited from Old English midd.

      Alternative forms

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      Pronunciation

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      Adjective

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      mid

      1. mid-, middle, central, intermediate
      2. that is or are in the middle or intermediate in time
      Descendants
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      • English: mid
      References
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      Norwegian Nynorsk

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      Etymology

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      From Old Norse miðr, from Proto-Germanic *midjaz (“middle, mid”), from Proto-Indo-European *medʰyo- (“middle”).

      Pronunciation

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      Adjective

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

      1. middle

      Derived terms

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      References

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

      Old English

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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

      Pronunciation

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      Preposition

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      mid [with dative]

      1. with
      2. by
      3. as
      4. on

      Usage notes

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      • While mid was construed most often with the dative, it was also used relatively often with the instrumental.
      • Occasionally, mid was paired with the accusative. This was most common in the Anglian dialects.

      Descendants

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      • Middle English: mid

      Old Irish

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      Etymology

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      From Primitive Irish *ᚋᚓᚇᚒ (*medu), from Proto-Celtic *medu, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu.[1]

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      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

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      Neuter u-stem
      singular dual plural
      nominative midN — —
      vocative midN — —
      accusative midN — —
      genitive medoH, medaH — —
      dative midL — —
      Initial mutations of a following adjective:
      • H = triggers aspiration
      • L = triggers lenition
      • N = triggers nasalization

      Derived terms

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      • mesc (“drunk”)
      • Midgen (literally “mead-born”)

      Descendants

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      Mutation

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      Mutation of mid
      radical lenition nasalization
      mid
      also mmid in h-prothesis environments      		 mid
      pronounced with /β̃ʲ-/      		 mid
      also mmid

      Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
      All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

      References

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      1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*medu”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 261

      Further reading

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      Old Saxon

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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      From Proto-West Germanic *midi.

      Preposition

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      mid

      1. with

      Adverb

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      mid

      1. with, together, along

      Somali

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      Etymology

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      Cognate with Jiiddu me'é, Burji micha, Hadiyya mato, Kambaata mato, Sidamo mite. Compare also Oromo matummanu (“totally”).

      Pronunciation

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      • IPA(key): /ˈmɪ́d/, [ˈmɪ́ʔ͡t]
      • Hyphenation: mid

      Numeral

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      mid m

      1. one
        Synonyms: kow, hal

      Derived terms

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      References

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      • Reinisch, Leo (1902), Die Somali-Sprache (in German), volume 2, Wien, Austria, page 283

      Zhuang

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      Etymology

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      From Proto-Tai *mitᴰ (“knife”).[1] The long vowel of มีด [miːtᴰᴸ²] shows irregularity as a reflex of it.[1]

      In Southwestern Tai, cognate with Thai มีด (mîit), Lao ມີດ (mīt), Lü ᦙᦲᧆ (miid), Tai Dam ꪣꪲꪒ, Shan မိတ်ႈ (mīt), Ahom 𑜉𑜢𑜄𑜫 (mit).

      In Central Tai, cognate with Nong Zhuang mid.[2]

      In Northern Tai, cognate with Bouyei mid.

      Compare Proto-Be *miːtᴰ².

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      mid (Sawndip forms 𭄋 or 𭄌 or ⿰刀密 or 𰄿 or 𭃽 or ⿰眉刀 or ⿰眉刂 or 𫥾 or 𲒧 or 㧅 or ⿰刀蜜, 1957–1982 spelling mid)

      1. the dagger; the (sharp) knife; the knife (for butchering pigs)
        Synonyms: (dialectal) caxsoem, (dialectal) caxliem, (dialectal) byaxsiemj
      2. edge; precipice

      Derived terms

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      References

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      1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pittayaporn, Pittayawat (2009) The Phonology of Proto-Tai (Doctoral dissertation)‎[2], Department of Linguistics, Cornell University , page 339
      2. ^ Zhang, Junru (张 均如); et al. (1999) 壮语方言研究 [A Study of Zhuang Dialects] (in Chinese), Chengdu: Sichuan Ethnic Publishing House (四川民族出版社), page 670
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