mid

Etymology 1

From Middle English mid, midde, from Old English midd (“mid, middle, midway”), from Proto-West Germanic *midi, from Proto-Germanic *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with Dutch midden (“in the middle”), German Mitte (“center, middle, mean”), Icelandic miður (“middle”, adjective), Latin medius (“middle”, noun and adjective). See also middle.

adj

1. Denoting the middle part.
   mid ocean
2. Occupying a middle position; middle.
   mid finger
   mid hour of night
3. (linguistics) Made with a somewhat elevated position of some certain part of the tongue, in relation to the palate; midway between the high and the low; said of certain vowel sounds, such as, [e o ɛ ɔ].
4. (African-American Vernacular, slang) Of mediocre quality; midgrade.
   The song is one of his best, but its real power comes from the accompanying, highly-stylized video wherein Lil Nas X breaks out of a prison populated with Black gay men (and, for an unspecified reason, Jack Harlow in an unseemly role as the Straight White Savior who delivers a verse that is mid at best and inappropriate at worst). July 26, 2021, Reanna Cruz, “Lil Nas X, 'INDUSTRY BABY'”, in NPR

prep

1. Amid.
   Mid the best.

Etymology 2

From Middle English mid, midde, from Old English midd (“midst, middle”, noun), from Proto-Germanic *midją, *midjǭ, *midjô (“middle, center”) < *midjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognate with German Mitte (“center, middle, midst”), Danish midje (“middle”), Icelandic midja (“middle”). See also median, Latin mediānus.

noun

1. (archaic) middle

Etymology 3

Clipping of mid-range.

noun

1. (disc golf) A mid-range.

Etymology 4

From or representing German mit, and/or perhaps German Low German mid. Although Middle English had a native preposition mid with this same meaning ("with"), it had fallen out of use by the end of the 1300s and survived into the modern English period only in the compounds mididone, midwife, and theremid.

prep

1. (in representations of German-accented English) With.
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:mid.

Etymology 5

Shortening of middling or similar. Compare midwit.

adj

1. (Internet slang) Trashy; low-quality.