middle

English

Alternative forms

• myddle (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English middel, from Old English middel, middle (“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midlą, *midilą, *medalą (“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō (“middle, midst”) (compare *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective)), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with West Frisian middel, Dutch middel, German mittel (“middle”, adjective), German Mittel (“middle, means”, noun), Danish middel (“means, agent, medicine; middle/medium”). Related also to Swedish medel (“means, medium”), Icelandic meðal (“means, medicine”). See also mid.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ.ɾɫ̩]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ.dəɫ], [ˈmɪ.dʊ]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ̝.dəɫ], [ˈmɪ̝.dʊ], [ˈmɪ̝.ɾ-]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmɘdɘl/, [ˈmə.dɯ(ɫ)], [ˈmə.ɾ-]
• Rhymes: -ɪdəl

Noun

middle (plural middles)

1. A centre, midpoint.

   The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.

2. The part between the beginning and the end.

   I woke up in the middle of the night.

   In the middle of the marathon, David collapsed from fatigue.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.

3. (cricket) The middle stump.
4. The central part of a human body; the waist.
   • 2012, Caroline Moore, Fasting In A Fast World:

     If I have a diet plan and stick to it, it is easy for me to have control over my middle.

5. (grammar) The middle voice.
6. (politics) the center of the political spectrum.

   As part of his successful re-election strategy, Clinton began governing from the middle.

Synonyms

• (centre): centre, center, midpoint; see also Thesaurus:midpoint
• (part between the beginning and the end): centre, center, midst

Translations

centre, midpoint

• Afrikaans: midde
• Aklanon: tunga'
• Albanian: mes (sq) m
• Arabic: مُنْتَصَف m (muntaṣaf), وَسَط m (wasaṭ)
• Armenian: մեջտեղ (hy) (meǰteġ), կենտրոն (hy) (kentron)
• Aromanian: njadzã f, nolgic n, nolgiuc, njilgioc, mesi f, mese (roa-rup) f
• Assamese: মাজ (maz)
• Asturian: mediu (ast) m
• Avar: цӏцӏороб (ccʼorob)
• Azerbaijani: orta (az)
• Bashkir: урта (urta)
• Basque: erdi
• Belarusian: сярэдзі́на f (sjaredzína), сяро́дак m (sjaródak)
• Bengali: মধ্য (bn) (moddho)
• Bikol Central: tahaw (bcl)
• Bulgarian: среда (bg) f (sreda), център (bg) m (centǎr)
• Burmese: အလယ် (my) (a.lai)
• Catalan: mig (ca) m
• Cebuano: tunga
• Cherokee: ᎠᏰᏟ (ayetli)
• Cheyenne: sétóve
• Chinese:

  Eastern Min: 中央 (düng yueng), 中间 (düng (g)an)

  Hokkien: 中央 (zh-min-nan) (tiong-ng), 中間／中间 (zh-min-nan) (tiong-kan)

  Mandarin: 中央 (zh) (zhōngyāng), 中間／中间 (zh) (zhōngjiān), 中心 (zh) (zhōngxīn)

• Crimean Tatar: orta
• Czech: střed (cs) m
• Dalmatian: mesu m
• Danish: midte c
• Drung: vdung
• Dutch: midden (nl) n, centrum (nl) n
• Egyptian: (qꜣb)
• Esperanto: mezo (eo)
• Estonian: keskkoht
• Evenki: дулин (dulin), уңурэ
• Finnish: keskipiste (fi), keskusta (fi)
• French: milieu (fr) m
• Friulian: mieç m
• Fula: hakkunde
• Georgian: შუა (šua), შუაგული (šuaguli)
• German: Mittelpunkt (de)
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌿𐌼𐌰 f (miduma)
• Greek: μέση (el) f (mési), μέσο (el) n (méso)

  Ancient: μέσον n (méson)

• Gujarati: મધ્ય (madhya), વચલું (vaclũ), વચ્ચેનું (vaccenũ)
• Haitian Creole: mitan
• Hebrew: אֶמְצַע (he)
• Hindi: मध्य (hi) f (madhya)
• Hungarian: középpont (hu)
• Indonesian: tengah (id)
• Irish: lár m

  Old Irish: medón m

• Italian: mezzo (it) m
• Jamaican Creole: miggle
• Japanese: 中央 (ja) (ちゅうおう, chūō), 中間 (ja) (ちゅうかん, chūkan), 中心 (ja) (ちゅうしん, chūshin)
• Javanese: tengah (jv)
• Kazakh: орта (orta)
• Khmer: កណ្ដាល (km) (kɑndaal)
• Komi-Permyak: шöр (šör)
• Korean: 중앙(中央) (ko) (jung'ang), 중간(中間) (ko) (junggan), 가운데 (ko) (gaunde), 중심 (ko) (jungsim)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ناوەند (ckb) (nawend), ناوەڕاست (nawerrast)

  Northern Kurdish: nav (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: орто (ky) (orto)
• Ladin: mesan
• Lao: ກາງ (lo) (kāng)
• Latgalian: vyds, vyducs
• Latin: medium n
• Latvian: vidus m
• Lithuanian: vidurys
• Lombard: mezz, mès
• Macedonian: средина f (sredina), средиште n (središte)
• Malay: pusat, tengah (ms)
• Malayalam: നടുക് (naṭukŭ), മധ്യം (ml) (madhyaṁ)
• Manchu: ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠ (dulimba)
• Maori: pokapū
• Mongolian: дунд (mn) (dund)
• Mwani: kati
• Nepali: बीच (bīc), मध्य (madhya)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: midt (no) m

  Nynorsk: midt (no) m

• Occitan: mièg (oc) m
• Odia: ମଝି (or) (majhi), ମଧ୍ୟ (or) (madhya)
• Old English: middel; midlen
• Old Javanese: tĕngah
• Old Turkic: 𐰆𐰺𐱃𐰆 (ortu)
• Ottoman Turkish: اورتا (orta)
• Papiamentu: mei
• Pashto: منځ (ps) m (manź)
• Persian: میان (fa) (miyân), وسط (fa) (vasat)
• Polish: środek (pl) m, serce (pl) n
• Portuguese: meio (pt) m, centro (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਮੱਧ (maddha)
• Romanian: mijloc (ro) n, miez (ro) n, centru (ro) n
• Russian: середи́на (ru) f (seredína), среди́на (ru) f (sredína)
• Sanskrit: मध्य (sa) n (madhya)
• Santali: ᱜᱚᱵᱷᱚ (gôbhô)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: средина f

  Roman: sredina (sh) f

• Slovak: stred m
• Slovene: sredina (sl) f
• Southern Altai: орто (orto)
• Spanish: medio (es) m, centro (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: mindri
• Swedish: mitt (sv)
• Tagalog: (literally) gitna (tl)
• Tajik: миёна (tg) (miyona)
• Tamil: நடு (ta) (naṭu)
• Tatar: урта (tt) (urta)
• Tausug: tungaan
• Thai: กลาง (th) (glaang)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tok Pisin: namel
• Turkish: orta (tr), merkez (tr)
• Turkmen: orta
• Udmurt: шор (šor)
• Ukrainian: середи́на (uk) f (seredýna)
• Urdu: وسط (ur) (vasat)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: oʻrta (uz), oʻrtacha (uz)
• Venetan: mèzo
• Vietnamese: giữa (vi), trung tâm (vi)
• Walloon: mitan (wa) m
• Welsh: canol (cy) f
• West Frisian: middel n
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yakut: орто (orto)
• Yiddish: מיטל n (mitl)
• Zhuang: cunghyangh

part between beginning and end

• Armenian: մեջտեղ (hy) (meǰteġ)
• Bashkir: урта (urta)
• Bulgarian: среда (bg) f (sreda)
• Catalan: mig (ca) m
• Dutch: midden (nl) n
• Finnish: keskialue, keskikohta (fi), puoliväli (fi)
• German: Mitte (de)
• Greek: μέση (el) f (mési)
• Hindi: मध्य (hi) m (madhya)
• Hungarian: közép (hu)
• Irish: lár m, meán (ga) m

  Old Irish: medón m

• Italian: centro (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ناوەند (ckb) (nawend), ناوەڕاست (nawerrast)

• Latin: medium n
• Latvian: vidus m
• Lithuanian: vidurys m
• Macedonian: средина f (sredina)
• Malay: tengah (ms)
• Malayalam: നടുക് (naṭukŭ), മധ്യം (ml) (madhyaṁ)
• Old English: middel
• Pashto: منځ (ps) m (manź)
• Persian: میان (fa) (miyân)
• Polish: środek (pl) m
• Portuguese: meio (pt) m, metade (pt) f
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhan m
• Spanish: centro (es) m, medio (es) m
• Swedish: mitt (sv) c
• Tok Pisin: namel
• Turkish: orta (tr)
• Welsh: canol (cy) f
• West Frisian: midden (fy) n

central part of human body

• Bulgarian: талия f (talija)
• Catalan: cintura (ca) f
• Finnish: keskikeho, keskivartalo (fi)
• Greek: μέση (el) f (mési)
• Hindi: धड़ (hi) m (dhaṛ)
• Hungarian: derék (hu)
• Irish: lár m
• Italian: cintura (it) f
• Latvian: vidus m, viduklis m
• Macedonian: половина f (polovina)
• Malay: tengah (ms)
• Malayalam: അര (ml) (ara)
• Pashto: منځ (ps) m (manź)
• Persian: میان (fa) (miyân), کمر (fa) (kamar)
• Portuguese: cintura (pt) f
• Spanish: cintura (es) f
• Telugu: నడుము (te) (naḍumu)
• Turkish: bel (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} medium
• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} mes (sq) m
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} المنتصف
• Bengali: ^{(please verify)} মাঝ (bn) (majh)
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} keskpaik
• Faroese: ^{(please verify)} miðja
• French: ^{(please verify)} milieu (fr)
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} შუაგული (šuaguli)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Mitte (de) f
• Hawaiian: ^{(please verify)} waena
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} miðja (is) f
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} titik (id), ^{(please verify)} tengah (id)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} mezzo (it) m, ^{(please verify)} metà (it) f
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 中間 (ja) (ちゅうかん, chūkan)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 중앙 (ko) (jung'ang)
• Latvian: ^{(please verify)} viduklis
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} vidurys
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 中央 (zh) (zhōngyāng)
• Mongolian: ^{(please verify)} дунд (mn) (dund)
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} کمر (fa) (kamar)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} mijloc (ro)
• Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} mesu m
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} sredina (sh) f
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} među
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} средина f, ^{(please verify)} sredina (sh)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} polovica (sk)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} medio (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: ^{(please verify)} mindri
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} kati (sw)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} mitt (sv)
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} gitna (tl)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మధ్య (te) (madhya)
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} จุดกึ่งกลาง (jòot gèung glaang)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} orta (tr)
• Ukrainian: ^{(please verify)} сере́дній (serédnij)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} giữa (vi)
• Yucatec Maya: ^{(please verify)} chumuk
• Zulu: ^{(please verify)} phakathi class 12

Adjective

middle (not comparable)

1. Located in the middle; in between.

   the middle point

   middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages

2. Central.
3. (grammar) Pertaining to the middle voice.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:intermediate

Derived terms

With prefixes and suffixes

• anteromiddle
• middlemost
• middleness
• middler
• middlescent
• middlesome
• middleware

 

Language stages

• Middle Armenian
• Middle Assamese
• Middle Bengali
• Middle Breton
• Middle Chinese
• Middle Cornish
• Middle Danish
• Middle Dutch
• Middle Egyptian, Late—, Neo—
• Middle English
• Middle French
• Middle Frisian
• Middle Greek
• Middle High / Low German
• Middle Indo-Aryan
• Middle Iranian
• Middle Irish
• Middle Japanese
• Middle Korean
• Middle Latin
• Middle Mongol
• Middle Mongolian
• Middle Norwegian
• Middle Ottoman
• Middle Persian
• Middle Polish
• Middle Saxon
• Middle Scots
• Middle Welsh

Geographical names

• Hartington Middle Quarter
• Middle America, —n
• Middlebourne
• Middleburg
• Middlebury
• Middle Claydon
• Middle Earth, middle earth; Middle-earth, middle-earth
• Middle East, -ern, -ization
• Middle England, —er
• Middle Francia
• Middle Kingdom
• Middle Ocean
• Middle Rainton
• Middle River
• Middlesbrough
• Middlesex
• Middle States
• Middle Stoke
• Middleton
• Middletown
• Middlewich

Expressions with the noun “middle” at the end

• diddle for middle
• down the middle
• in the middle of
• knock someone into the middle of next week
• law of (the) excluded middle
• man in the middle
• monkey in the middle
• piggy (pig) in the middle
• play (work) both sides (ends) against the middle
• take one's half out of the middle
• thick around the middle
• work both ends against the middle

 

Anatomical terms and phrases

• middle cerebral artery
• middle cervical ganglion
• middle ear
• middle finger
• middle lamella
• middle leg
• middle meningeal artery
• middle phalanx / phalange
• middle pharyngeal constrictor
• middle rib
• middle scalene muscle
• middle temporal artery

All other expressions derived from the adjective or noun “middle”

• lexical middle voice
• man-in-the-middle attack
• middle age, middle-aged
• Middle Ages
• middle article
• middle atmosphere
• middle body
• middleborn
• middlebox
• middlebreaker
• middlebrow
• middlebuster
• middle C
• Middle Cambrian
• middle child
• middle childhood
• middle class, middle-class, lower—, upper—
• middle-click
• middle college
• middle day
• middle distance, middle-distance
• middle dot
• middle eight
• middle-end
• middle for diddle
• middlegame (middle game)
• middle ground
• middle-grounder
• middle guard
• middle hundreds
• middle income trap
• middle-income trap
• middle infield, —er
• middle latitude
• middle manager, — management
• middleman (middle man), middlewoman, middleperson
• middle marker
• middle-market
• middle mile
• middle name
• middle note
• middle of bumfuck nowhere
• middle office
• middle of nowhere
• middle of the market
• middle-of-the-roadism
• middle of the road, —er
• middle order
• middle pair
• middle passage (Middle Passage)
• middle path
• middle position
• middle power
• middle reaches
• middle-road
• middle-roader
• middle school, -er, — student
• middle-sized
• middle splitter
• middle spotted woodpecker
• middlestream
• middle stump
• middle term
• middle tilde
• middle verb
• middle voice
• middle watch
• Middle Watut
• middle way
• middleweight
• middle youth
• principle of excluded middle
• syntactic middle voice

 

Related terms

• mid-
• middle- (in compounds; not a prefix)
• middling

 

Translations

located in the middle; in between

• Arabic: وَسَط (wasaṭ), مُتَوَسْط (mutawasṭ), أَوْسَط (ar) (ʔawsaṭ)
• Armenian: միջին (hy) (miǰin)
• Belarusian: сярэ́дні (be) (sjarédni)
• Bulgarian: сре́ден (bg) (sréden)
• Burmese: လတ် (my) (lat)
• Catalan: mitjà (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中間／中间 (zh) (zhōngjiàn)

• Czech: prostřední (cs)
• Dutch: midden (nl)
• Esperanto: meza
• Estonian: kesk-
• Extremaduran: meyu
• Finnish: keski- (fi)
• French: moyen (fr)
• Friulian: mezan
• German: Mittel-, mittlere (de)
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌹𐍃 (midjis)
• Greek: μέσος (el) m (mésos), μεσαίος (el) m (mesaíos)

  Ancient: μέσος (mésos)

• Hindi: मध्य (hi) m (madhya), बीच (hi) m (bīc)
• Hungarian: középső (hu), közép- (hu)
• Indonesian: pertengahan (id)
• Italian: medio (it), mezzano (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 中間の (ja) (chūkan no)
• Korean: 중앙의 (jung'ang'ui)
• Latin: medius (la)
• Latvian: vidus, vidējs
• Macedonian: среден (sreden), средишен (središen)
• Malay: tengah (ms)
• Norwegian: midterst
• Pashto: منځنی (manźanay)
• Persian: میانه (fa) (miyâna, miyâne)
• Polish: środkowy (pl)
• Portuguese: médio (pt)
• Romanian: mediu (ro)
• Russian: сре́дний (ru) m (srédnij)
• Sanskrit: मध्य (sa) (madhya)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhanach
• Slovak: stredný (sk), prostredný
• Spanish: medio (es)
• Swedish: mellersta (sv)
• Telugu: మధ్య (te) (madhya)
• Ukrainian: сере́дній (serédnij)
• Venetan: mesàn
• Võro: kesk-
• Walloon: mîtrin (wa) m
• Yakut: орто (orto)

central

• Bulgarian: централен (bg) (centralen)
• Burmese: လတ် (my) (lat)
• Finnish: keskeinen (fi)
• French: central (fr)
• German: mittig (de)
• Greek: κεντρικός (el) m (kentrikós)
• Hindi: केंद्र (hi) m (kendra), मध्य (hi) m (madhya)
• Italian: centrale (it)
• Latvian: vidējs, centrāls
• Macedonian: средишен (središen)
• Malay: pusat, tengah (ms)
• Pashto: منځنی (manźanay)
• Persian: میانی (fa) (miyâni), مرکزی (fa) (markazi)
• Portuguese: central (pt)
• Romanian: central (ro)
• Scottish Gaelic: meadhanach
• Spanish: central (es)
• Swedish: central (sv)

pertaining to the middle voice

• Greek:

  Ancient: μέσος (mésos)

Verb

middle (third-person singular simple present middles, present participle middling, simple past and past participle middled)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To take a middle view of. [17th–18th c.]
   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXVII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC:

     And now, to middle the matter between both, it is pity, that the man they favour has not that sort of merit which a person of a mind so delicate as that of Miss Harlowe might reasonably expect in a husband.

2. (obsolete, nautical, transitive) To double (a rope) into two equal portions; to fold in the middle. [19th c.]
3. (cricket, transitive) To strike (the ball) with the middle portion of the face of the bat.

Middle English

Adjective

middle

1. inflection of middel:
   1. weak singular
   2. strong/weak plural