median

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmiː.di.ən/ (UK); /ˈmi.di.ən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French médian or directly from Latin mediānus (“of the middle”),^[2][3] from medius, middle (see mid, middle),^[2][3][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *medhyo- (“middle”).^[3] An earlier medical use is in Middle English mediana, a vein of the arm (1392), from Medieval Latin mediāna (vēna).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A median part, in anatomy: 1541, the 1540s, as a noun;^[2][3] the adjective, of a middle vein or nerve, 1592.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was originally anatomical, of veins, arteries and nerves, and in general use, middle or intermediate, by the 1640s (1645).^[3][5] In statistics the median, the middle number of a series, is from 1883 in Etymonline, 1902 in Barnhart.^[3][2] The median strip between the lanes of a divided road is by 1939 in American English (1954 in Barnhart and the OED).^[3][2][5]

Timeline

• 1392 – mediana, a vein.^[2]
• 1541 – a median part (noun).^[2]
• 1592 – a median vein (adjective).^[2]
• 1645 – middle, intermediate.^[5]
• 1883 – the statistical median.^[3]
• 1939 – median strip.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Relating to, located in or extending towards the middle.
2. (biology) Of or in the plane that divides a body into right and left halves.
3. (statistics) Relating to the middle value in a distribution.

Noun

1. (statistics) The middle value in a distribution, with equal numbers of values above and below.
2. (geometry) A line joining a vertex of a triangle to the midpoint of the opposite side.
3. A median strip dividing a road.

Word family

• medianly
• postmedian
• submedian
• median plane
• median strip

Related words

• mean
• medial
• mediate
• mediation
• mediator
• medium
• mediocre
• mediocrity
• middle
• mid

Usage notes

Median, of the ancient Medes or their language, is a different word, from Media.^[6][4]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press