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mean

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /miːn/[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English menen,[2][3] inherited from Old English mǣnan (“to intend; to tell, say; to signify”),[2][4][5] from Proto-West Germanic *mainjan,[6] whose descendants are Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”), Old Saxon mēnian (“to intend, make known”), Dutch menen and Old High German meinen (modern German meinen (“to think, have an opinion”)).[2][5][4] It is related to Old Irish mian (“wish, desire”) and Welsh mwyn (“enjoyment”),[4][7] and the Oxford dictionaries and Weekley trace it to the same root as mind.[5][8][9] The adjective “ungenerous, unkind” is a different word, Middle English mene, short for imene, from Old English ġemǣne (“common, shared by all”),[3][4][10] from Proto-Germanic *ga-mainiz (“possessed jointly”),[4][10] cognate with German gemein (“common; vulgar”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (gamains) and Latin commūnis (“common”).[10][5][9] A third word, the adjective and noun “middle, average”, is Middle English mene, from Anglo-French and Old French meien (modern French moyen), from Latin mediānus (“in the middle”), from medius (“middle”); it is a doublet of median.[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To intend; to tell, say (about 725, in Beowulf).[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb was used of having intentions of a particular kind (mean well) from the late 14th century, and of things that matter to someone (it means a lot to me) by 1888, and you know what I mean? is recorded by 1834.[4] A separate Old English mǣnan, “to lament”, survived in Scots and in Shakespeare's “to moan”.[11][3][5] The adjective from ġemǣne first meant “shared by all, common” (about 1200), then “of low rank” (early 14th century) and “poor in quality” (late 14th century).[4][10] Its senses ran parallel with those of common,[9][4] and were helped along by confusion with mean “middle”, which also had disparaging uses.[4][9] Weekley notes that mean stature originally meant medium height.[4][9] The senses “low-minded, ignoble” (1660s), “stingy” (by 1755) and “disobliging, unkind” (1839, originally American slang) followed,[4] and the New Oxford says these became common in the 19th century.[8] In 1857 a British traveller noted mean as an Americanism for “poor, shabby”.[4] The reversed sense “excellent” (plays a mean guitar) appeared about 1900, perhaps from no mean (1590s).[4] The noun mean first named an intermediate tone in music (about 1300); the senses “method” (by means of) and “the middle way” followed in the late 14th century and the mathematical average in the mid-15th.[4][5] Bartlett noted that many American writers used mean where English writers used means.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English mǣnan, to intend, tell (Beowulf).[2]
  • c. 888 – to have in mind as a purpose.[13]
  • c. 1200 – adjective mene, common, shared (obsolete).[4][10]
  • c. 1300 – noun, an intermediate musical tone.[4]
  • early 14th century – of low rank.[4]
  • 1340 – adjective, middle, intermediate (Ayenbite of Inwyt).[2]
  • late 14th century – means, a method, and mean well.[4]
  • mid-15th century – a mathematical average.[4]
  • 1660s – ignoble, low-minded.[4]
  • 1755 – stingy.[4]
  • 1839 – unkind, disobliging (American).[4]
  • 1882 – verb, to calculate the mean of.[4][13]
  • c. 1900 – excellent.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. Of words or signs, to have as their sense; to signify.
  2. To intend to convey: what do you mean?
  3. To intend: I meant to call.
  4. To intend for a purpose: meant for each other.
  5. To result in: this means trouble.
  6. To matter to someone: it means a lot to me.

Adjective

  1. Unkind or spiteful.
  2. Ungenerous, stingy.
  3. Poor, shabby: mean streets.
  4. (archaic) Of low rank.
  5. Bad-tempered, vicious.
  6. (informal) Excellent: plays a mean guitar.
  7. Midway between extremes; average: mean temperature.

Noun

  1. A middle point between extremes.
  2. (mathematics) An average value.
  3. (means) A method of achieving something.
  4. (means) Money or wealth.

Word family

  • meanly
  • meanness
  • well-meaning
  • mean-spirited
  • meanie
  • median
  • mediate
  • mediation
  • mediator
  • mediocre
  • mediocrity
  • medium
  • meaning
  • means
  • meantime
  • meanwhile
  • common
  • moan

Usage notes

Means meaning “money” takes a plural verb; meaning “a way to an end” it is singular for a single method and plural for several.[14] Random House contrasts mean (petty and small-minded) with low (coarse), base (selfish or depraved) and sordid.[15]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c d e Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
  13. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  14. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  15. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House