Etymologically
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median

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Pronunciation

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

Etymology

It is 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

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