midpoint

Etymology

It is a compound from English mid + point,^[2][3][4] also written “mid-point”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A point in the middle: in a manuscript of about 1450 of Chaucer's Book of the Duchess, a poem composed in 1369.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century,^[3] Merriam-Webster to the 14th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1325–75.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its plain sense of the middle of something, applied to a line, an area or an object, and to a period of time or a numerical range; the OED notes that it occasionally means a halfway stage.^[2] Merriam-Webster also has a sense for a point of time assumed to be about halfway through something whose end is not yet known, and in geometry the point that divides a line segment into two equal parts.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – a point in the middle of something, in a copy of Chaucer's Book of the Duchess (composed 1369).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The point at or near the centre of an area, or at an equal distance from the two ends of a line.^[6][5][2]
2. A point in time halfway between the beginning and end of an event or period: By the midpoint of the season the team was top of the league.^[6][5][2]

Related words

• mid
• middle
• midway
• point

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins