middle

See also: Middle

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

middle

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

myddle (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English myddel, middel, from Old English middel (“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”).

Cognates

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Middel (“middle”), West Frisian mul (“middle”), Dutch middel (“means; medicine, cure”), German mittel (“middle”, adjective), Mittel (“means; medicament, remedy”, noun), Luxembourgish Mëttel (“means, method; medicament”), Vilamovian mytuł (“middle”), Yiddish מיטל (mitl, “middle”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk middel (“means”), Icelandic meðal (“average; means, medicine”), Swedish medel (“average, mean, middle”). See also mid.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdl̩/, [ˈmɪ.dəɫ], [ˈmɪ.dʊ]
(General South African) IPA^(key): [ˈmɨdl̩]
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdl̩/, [ˈmɪ.ɾɫ̩]
Audio (US): (file)
(Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪdəl/, [ˈmɪ̝.dəɫ], [ˈmɪ̝.dʊ], [ˈmɪ̝.ɾ-]
Audio (Australian): (file)
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmɘdɘl/, [ˈmə.dɯ(ɫ)], [ˈmə.ɾ-]
Rhymes: -ɪdəl

Noun

middle (plural middles)

A centre, midpoint.
The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.
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.
(cricket) The middle stump.
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.
(grammar) The middle voice.
(politics) the center of the political spectrum.
As part of his successful re-election strategy, Clinton began governing from the middle.
An essay on social or literary issues in a newspaper or magazine, originally placed between the leading articles and the reviews.
- 1913 (date written), Rudyard Kipling, “The Village that Voted the Earth was Flat”, in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 171:
  ‘Did you see the Spec. had a middle on “Rural Tenacities” last week. That was all Huckley.’

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, midis (sq)
Altai:
Northern Altai: орта (orta), орто (orto)

Southern Altai: орто (orto)
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)
Bangi: ntéi
Bashkir: урта (urta)
Basque: erdi
Belarusian: сярэдзі́на f (sjaredzína), сяро́дак m (sjaródak)
Bengali: মধ্য (bn) (moddho)
Bikol:
Central Bikol: tahaw (bcl)
Bulgarian: среда (bg) f (sreda), център (bg) m (centăr)
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)
Choctaw: iklʋnna
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
Frisian:
West Frisian: middel n
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 Greek: μέσον n (méson)
Gujarati: મધ્ય (madhya), વચલું (vaclũ), વચ્ચેનું (vaccenũ)
Haitian Creole: mitan
Hebrew: אֶמְצַע (he)
Hindi: मध्य (hi) f (madhya)
Hmong:
White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
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)
Old Javanese: tĕngah
Kazakh: орта (orta)
Khmer: កណ្ដាល (km) (kɑndaal)
Komi:
Komi-Permyak: шöр (šör)
Kongo: kati
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
Lingala: kati, ntéi
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)
Māori: 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 Turkic: 𐰆𐰺𐱃𐰆 (ortu)
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

Latin: sredina (sh) f
Slovak: stred m
Slovene: sredina (sl) f
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)
Ottoman Turkish: اورتا (orta)
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
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)
Frisian:
West Frisian: midden (fy) n
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

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)
Chinese:
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 中央 (zh) (zhōngyāng)
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
Mongolian: ^{(please verify)} дунд (mn) (dund)
Persian: ^{(please verify)} کمر (fa) (kamar)
Romanian: ^{(please verify)} mijloc (ro)
Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} mesu m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} средина f, ^{(please verify)} међу

Latin: ^{(please verify)} sredina (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} među
Slovak: ^{(please verify)} polovica (sk)
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 (no comparative, superlative middlemost or (colloquial, childish) middlest)

Located in the middle; in between.
the middle point

middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages
Central.
(grammar) Pertaining to the middle voice.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:intermediate

Derived terms

With prefixes and suffixes

Geographical names

Anatomical terms and phrases

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

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)
Azerbaijani: orta (az)
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 Greek: μέσος (mésos)
Hindi: माध्यमिक (hi) (mādhyamik), बीच (hi) (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) (kendra), माध्यमिक (hi) (mādhyamik)
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 Greek: μέσος (mésos)

Verb

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

(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; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →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.
(obsolete, nautical, transitive) To double (a rope) into two equal portions; to fold in the middle. [19th c.]
(cricket, transitive) To strike (the ball) with the middle portion of the face of the bat.

Middle English

Adjective

middle

alternative form of myddel