Etymologically
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medial

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmiː.di.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin mediālis (“of the middle, situated in the middle”),[2][3][4][5] from Latin medius (“middle”) and the suffix -ālis,[2][6] from Proto-Indo-European *medhyo- (“middle”).[3][4] The OED finds the Late Latin word from the 3rd–4th century, and in British sources in the first Latin translation of Euclid (c. 1120) and in a treatise on music (c. 1326).[2] French médial is recorded in 1754, of a letter in the middle of a word.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to a mathematical mean or average, chiefly in medial line: 1570, in Billingsley's translation of Euclid's Elements.[2][5][3] Merriam-Webster also dates this sense to 1570.[6]

Semantic evolution

From the mathematical mean the word passed to the general sense "in the middle, intermediate", which the OED records from 1684 and Etymonline from 1721;[2][3] in this sense it was used early of letters and sounds in the middle of a word.[2] From 1778 to 1894 it could also mean of average size or attainments.[2] In anatomy and zoology it has meant, since 1803, situated in or towards the median plane of the body.[2] The noun, a medial letter or sound or the special form of a letter used in the middle of a word, is first found in 1776, in a grammar of Arabic.[2][3] In 1833 phonetics used it for a voiced unaspirated stop, but this use soon died out;[2] Merriam-Webster still records the adjective for the voiced stops of ancient Greek.[6] The mathematical sense is now rare.[2]

Timeline

  • 1570 – relating to a mathematical mean.[2][5][6]
  • 1684 – in the middle, intermediate; of a letter or sound, in the middle of a word.[2] Etymonline dates the general sense to 1721.[3]
  • 1776 – noun, a medial letter or sound.[2][3]
  • 1778 – of average size (obsolete by 1894).[2]
  • 1803 – anatomy, towards the median plane of the body.[2]
  • 1833 – phonetics, a voiced unaspirated stop (obsolete).[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Situated or occurring in the middle; intermediate or median.[6][7][2]
  2. (anatomy) Situated in or towards the middle of the body or of an organ.[6][2]
  3. (linguistics) Occurring in the middle of a word, between the initial and final positions: the medial t in "water".[6][2]
  4. (mathematics) Relating to a mean or average.[7][2]
  5. Ordinary or average in size.[7]

Noun

  1. A medial sound or letter, or the form of a letter used in the middle of a word.[6][2]
  2. (phonetics) A voiced stop consonant; a media.[6][7]

Word family

  • medially
  • postmedial
  • supermedial
  • submedial
  • ventromedial
  • medial moraine

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins