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See also: médial

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mediālis (middle), from medius (that is in the middle or midst) +‎ -ālis (-al, adjectival suffix).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmiː.di.əl/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːdiəl

Adjective

medial (comparative more medial, superlative most medial)

  1. (mathematics) Of or pertaining to a mean or average.
    medial allegation
  2. Situated in or near the middle; not at either end.
    1. (anatomy, zootomy) Pertaining to the inside; closer to the median plane of the body or the midline of an organ.
      The medial side of the knee faces the other knee, while the outer side of the knee is lateral.
      Coordinate terms: mesial, median
      Antonym: lateral
    2. (anatomy) Pertaining to the middle layer of a blood vessel, to its tunica media.
      Mönckeberg medial sclerosis
    3. (entomology) Of or pertaining to the media and/or the areas of the wing next to it.
    4. (phonetics, linguistics) (of a speech sound, or a character or sequence thereof) In the middle of a word.
    5. (phonetics) (of a consonant) Central: produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue.
      • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate [], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, [], →OCLC:
        Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
    6. (linguistics) Closer to the addressee.

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

medial (plural medials)

  1. Any of various things that occur in the middle.
    1. One or more letters that occur in the middle of a word.

References

Anagrams

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medialis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

medial (strong nominative masculine singular medialer, not comparable)

  1. medial

Declension

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French médial, from Latin medialis.

Adjective

medial m or n (feminine singular medială, masculine plural mediali, feminine and neuter plural mediale)

  1. medial

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mediālis. Cf. also meaja.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /meˈdjal/ [meˈð̞jal]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: me‧dial

Adjective

medial m or f (masculine and feminine plural mediales)

  1. medial

Derived terms

Derived terms

Further reading