Wordwyrt

medieval

/mɪˈdivəl/mih-DEE-vuhl
/mɪˈdivəl/mih-DEE-vuhl

Meaningof the middle age

Common meaning: of the Middle Ages

‘middle’ + ‘a lifetime, an age’ → medieval

Journey through time

  • medi — Latin medius “middle” (path traced)
  • ev — Latin aevum, -ī “a lifetime, an age; endless time” (path traced)
  1. Latinmedius + aevum, -ī‘middle + a lifetime, an age’
  2. Englishmedieval‘of the Middle Ages’ · today

medi also in: mediamediummediatemediocreimmediate

ev also in: coevalprimeval

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin medius ‘middle’ + Latin aevum ‘a lifetime, an age; endless time’.

Did you know (Medieval means of…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry medius, p. 1122 · dictionary scan

Did you know (Latin aevum, an…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry aevum, p. 63 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • aevum, -ī Latin “a lifetime, an age; endless time”
  • medius Latin “middle”

Related words

coevalprimevalimmediateintermediatemediamediatemediocremedium

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