# medium
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medium, neuter of medius (“middle”), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). Compare middle. Doublet of mid, medio, media, and mediate.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: mē'diəm, IPA: /ˈmiː.di.əm/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːdiəm

### Noun

medium (plural media or mediums)
* The material of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent.
* The materials or empty space through which signals, waves, or forces pass.
** 1631, Francis [Bacon], “III. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching the Medium of Sounds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 220, page 60:VVhether any other Liquours, being made Mediums, cauſe a Diuerſity of Sound from Water, it may bee tried: […]
** 1641 (first performance), [John Denham], The Sophy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act II, page 18:He’s old and jealous, apt for ſuſpitions, ’gainſt which Tyrants ears Are never clos’d. The Prince is young, Fierce, and ambitious, I muſt bring together All theſe extreams, and then remove all Mediums, That each may be the others object.
* A format for communicating or presenting information.
** 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 272:[A]t all events, she drank in with eager ear, and admiring mind, anecdote and history of all those excellent traits of disposition, and nobleness of conduct, which made him the idol of his describer, and gave her a knowledge of his temper and character, and the manner in which his boyhood and youth had passed, which she could never have gained by any other medium, and which it was unquestionably right she should know.
** 2015, “Staging the Politics of Difference: Homi Bhabha's Critical Literacy, Gary A. Olson and Lynn Worsham.”, in Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham, Henry A. Giroux, editors, Politics of Possibility: Encountering the Radical Imagination, page 133:Too often writing—in the broadest sense—is treated as a communicational medium where the subjects of that communication are constituted prior to the writing, where the objects of that communication are also constituted prior to that writing, and where the task of writing is seen as transparently mediating between already pregiven subjects, pregiven objects, and a preconstituted mise en scène.
* (microbiology) A nutrient substance, commonly a solution or solid, for the growth of cells in vitro.
** 1996, Samuel Baron, editor, Medical Microbiology:In some instances one can take advantage of differential carbohydrate fermentation capabilities of microorganisms by incorporating one or more carbohydrates in the medium along with a suitable pH indicator. Such media are called differential media (e.g., eosin methylene blue or MacConkey agar) and are commonly used to isolate enteric bacilli.
* (biology, horticulture, etc.) A substance, structure, or environment in which living organisms subsist, grow or are cultured.
** 1895, Bashford Dean., Fishes, Living and Fossil:The density of the living medium of fishes exerts upon them a mechanical influence; they are, so to say, balanced in water, free to proceed in all planes of direction...
* A means, channel, agency or go-between through which communication, commerce, etc is conveyed or carried on, or by which an aim is achieved.
** 2007, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Reprint Services Corporation, →ISBN, page 186:His loyalty to the English was doubtful and wavering, and his opposition to Post's journey was probably due to fears that his own importance as a medium between the Ohio Indians and the English would be diminished by the former's success.
* (engineering) The materials used to finish a workpiece using a mass finishing or abrasive blasting process.
* (countable, plural mediums or media) A liquid base which carries pigment in paint.
* (painting) A means of expression, in the arts, such as a material (oil, pastel, clay, etc) or method or style (expressionism, jazz, etc).
    Acrylics, oils, charcoal, and gouache are all mediums I used in my painting.
** 1898, Report of the Public Schools of the State of Missouri, Missouri: Department of Education, page 98:Heretofore in following the course, the student has been confined to black and white in the medium of charcoal, pen and ink or pencil. The first introduction to color is by means of the Still Life painting class.
** 1966, John P. Sedgwick, Discovering Modern Art: The Intelligent Layman's Guide to Painting from Impressionism to Pop:It was the woodcut, however, that emerged as the favorite graphic medium of Expressionism. Rejecting the almost limitless pictorial possibilities of lithography, which had dominated printmaking during the nineteenth century, […]
** 1967, Barnet Kottler, Martin Light, The World of Words: A Language Reader:So we get a people in rebellion against a dominant majority, but forced to rebel secretly, to sublimate, as the psychologist would put it — to express themselves culturally through the medium of jaz , and linguistically through a code, a jargon ...
** 1974, Karl Siegfried Weimar, German Language and Literature: Seven Essays, Prentice Hall:Prose is not the preferred medium of expressionism, yet some outstanding individual examples come to mind, for example: Robert Walser's (1876–1956) surrealistic miniatures and novels of a dreamlike structure reminiscent of Kafka […]
** 1999, Jet, page 29:The Pulitzer board said the award was given “in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.”
* (countable, logic) The mean or middle term of a syllogism, that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
* (countable, spiritualism, plural mediums or (rare, nonstandard) media) Someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world.
** 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:The hall was not too well lit and dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if her ears were straining.
* (countable) A middle place or degree.
    a happy medium
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] 215. An Oak and a Willow, Reflexion.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 188:[T]he Just Medium of This Case lies betwixt the Pride, and the Abjection of the Two Extreams.
** 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 29:Her height was pretty, […] her figure particularly graceful; her size a most becoming medium, between fat and thin, […]
** 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Our Housekeeping”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 453:In search of the principle on which joints ought to be roasted, to be roasted enough, and not too much, I myself referred to the Cookery Book, […]. But the principle always failed us by some curious fatality, and we never could hit any medium between redness and cinders.
* (countable, dated) An average; sometimes the mathematical mean.
** 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 5:The number of Britiſh ſhips annually arriving in our ports vvas reduced to 1756 ſail, containing 92.559 tons, on a medium of the ſix years vvar, compared vvith the ſix years of peace preceding it.
* Anything of a middle rank or position.
** 1891, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, The Historic Note-book: With an Appendix of Battles, page 153:Cavalry […] is divided into mediums, heavies, and light cavalry.

#### Derived terms

* (material or substance): circumgalactic medium, interstellar medium, intergalactic medium, warm-hot intergalactic medium, warm ionized medium, contrast medium
* (format for communicating or presenting information): mass medium, storage medium, transmission medium, cool medium, hot medium, English-medium, social medium
* (microbology): culture medium, growth medium, Löwenstein-Jensen medium, LJ medium, differential medium, minimal medium, basal medium, Czapek medium, Czapek-Dox medium
* (means, channel or agency by which an aim is achieved): medium of exchange, medium of instruction, circulating medium
* (person claiming to convey information from the spirit world): mediumistic, mediumism, mediumship
* (middle place or degree): happy medium, strike a medium

#### Translations
### Noun

medium (countable and uncountable, plural mediums) (nominalized)
* (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured.
    Synonym: M
* (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
* (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
* (countable, Ireland, dated, informal) A half-pint serving of Guinness (or other stout in some regions).

#### Translations
### Adjective

medium (not comparable)
* (obsolete) Arithmetically average.
* Of intermediate size, degree, amount etc.
* Of meat, cooked to a point greater than rare but less than well done; typically, so the meat is still red in the centre.
* (especially clothing, food or drink) That is medium (the manufactured size).

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:intermediate

#### Derived terms

* lower-medium
* medium-brow
* medium-chain
* medium dead
* medium drink
* medium dry
* medium format
* medium long shot
* medium pace
* medium pacer
* medium-quality
* medium scale integration
* medium shot
* medium spiny neuron
* medium wave, mediumwave
* military medium
* over medium
* small and medium-sized enterprise
* upper-medium

#### Related terms

* mean
* mediate
* mediation
* mediator
* median
* mediocre
* mediocrity

#### Translations
### Adverb

medium (not comparable)
* To a medium extent.

#### Synonyms

* mediumly

### References

* “medium”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “medium”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* edimmu

## Danish
### Etymology

From Latin medium.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /meːdiɔm/, [ˈmeːˀd̥jɔm]

### Noun

medium or medie n (singular definite mediet, plural indefinite medier)
* medium

#### Inflection
### Adjective

medium (neuter medium, plural and definite singular attributive medium)
* medium

### Further reading

* medium on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{da}$

## Dutch
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin medium.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmeːdiʏm/
* Audio:(file)

#### Noun

medium n (plural media, diminutive mediumpje n)
* means, system or instrument for fulfilling an end
** 1967, Evert Willem Barth, Moderne logica, Van Gorcum, 138-139:Het is zeer aannemelijk dat sommige talen zich er beter toe lenen dan andere, als medium voor het logisch denken dienst te doen.It is very probable that some language are more suitable to being used as a medium for logical thinking than others are.
* (physics) medium which a wave or force traverses
** 2009, Douglas C. Giancoli, Natuurkunde. Deel 2: Elektriciteit, magnetism, optica en moderne fysica, (tr. by Marianne Kerkhof & Louis Rijk Vertaling, red. by Luc van Hoorebeeke & Jan Rykebusch), Pearson (4th edition), 1100.
    Ze noemden dit transparante medium de ether en gingen ervan uit dat de hele ruimte ervan doordrongen was.They called this transparent medium aether and assumed that all of space was completely pervaded by it.
* (grammar) middle voice
* (communication, media) means of communication, media outlet
* (communication) data medium, something that contains data
* channeler, someone who claims to access the dead

##### Derived terms

* geluidsmedium
* lichtmedium
* massamedium
* mediopassief
* taalmedium

##### Descendants

* → Indonesian: medium

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from English medium, from Latin medium.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmidiʏm/

#### Noun

medium n (plural mediums)
* something of medium size

#### Adjective

medium (not comparable)
* of medium size
* (of meat) medium rare

##### Synonyms

* (medium rare): halfgaar

## Indonesian
### Etymology

* From Dutch medium, from Latin medium.
* Semantic loan from English medium for a measurement intermediate between extremes.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [meˈdiʊm]
* Hyphenation: mé‧di‧um

### Noun

medium or médium
* medium,
** anything having a measurement intermediate between extremes
** the means, channel, or agency by which an aim is achieved
** someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world
** (physics) the materials or empty space through which signals, waves or forces pass
** (biology) a nutrient solution for the growth
* (rare) media

#### Alternative forms

* media

### Further reading

* “medium” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈme.di.um/, [ˈmɛd̪iʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈme.di.um/, [ˈmɛːd̪ium]

### Adjective

medium
* inflection of medius:
** masculine accusative singular
** neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular

### Noun

medium n (genitive mediī or medī); second declension
* middle, center, medium, midst
* community, public, publicity

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).
$^1$Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

#### Derived terms

* e medio abeo
* in medio

#### Descendants

* → Catalan: mèdium, medi
* → Danish: medium
* → Dutch: medium
** → Indonesian: medium
* → English: medium
** → Dutch: medium
* → French: médium
* French: mi-
* Friulian: mieç
* → German: Medium
* → Italian: medio
* → Norwegian Bokmål: medium
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: medium
* Portuguese: meio
* → Portuguese: médium
* → Romanian: mediu
* → Romansch: medium
* Spanish: medio
* → Spanish: médium
* → Swedish: medium

### Noun

medium
* accusative/genitive singular of medius

### References

* “medium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “medium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "medium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) the Mediterranean Sea: mare medium or internum (ambiguous) the middle ages: media quae vocatur aetas (ambiguous) manhood: aetas constans, media, firmata, corroborata (not virilis) (ambiguous) to remove a person: e or de medio tollere (ambiguous) to become known, become a topic of common conversation (used of things): foras efferri, palam fieri, percrebrescere, divulgari, in medium proferri, exire, emanare (ambiguous) to leave a thing undecided: aliquid in medio, in dubio relinquere (Cael. 20. 48) (ambiguous) elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21) (ambiguous) to bring a subject forward into discussion: in medium proferre aliquid (ambiguous) to publish, make public: in medio ponere (proponere) (ambiguous) to break off in the middle of the conversation: medium sermonem abrumpere (Verg. Aen. 4. 388) (ambiguous) to be neutral: medium esse (ambiguous) to be neutral: medium se gerere (ambiguous) the centre of the marching column: agmen medium (Liv. 10. 41) (ambiguous) the centre: media acies (ambiguous) let us leave that undecided: hoc in medio relinquamus

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medium.

### Noun

medium n (definite singular mediet, indefinite plural medier, definite plural media or mediene)
* a medium (also in spiritualism)

#### Derived terms

* kjølemedium
* massemedium

### See also

* medie-

### References

* “medium” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medium.

### Noun

medium n (definite singular mediet, indefinite plural medium, definite plural media)
* a medium (also in spiritualism)

#### Derived terms

* kjølemedium
* massemedium

### See also

* medie-

### References

* “medium” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Polish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English medium, from Latin medium. Doublet of miedza and między.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛ.djum/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛdjum
* Syllabification: me‧dium

### Noun

medium n
* (spiritualism) medium (someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world)
* means (instrument or condition for attaining a purpose)
* (grammar) middle voice
    Synonym: strona zwrotna

#### Declension
### Further reading

* medium in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
* medium in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Swedish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medium.

### Noun

medium n
* medium (on some scale)
    Kebabsåsen finns i tre konsistenser: vattnig, medium och krämigThe kebab sauce is available in three consistencies: watery, medium, and creamy
    Tröjan finns i tre storlekar: small, medium och largeThe shirt is available in three sizes: small, medium, and large
* a medium (substance in which some physical process takes place)
* a medium (format for transmitting information)
* (spiritualism) a medium
* (grammar) middle voice
* (mathematics) a mean
    Synonym: (more common) medelvärde
* (dated) a middle part
    i mediet av augustiin the middle of August

#### Related terms

* etermedium
* lagringsmedium
* massmedium
* medel
* mediaklimat
* medial

### References

* medium in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* medium in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* medium in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)