different between meanie vs meinie

English

Alternative forms

• meany

Etymology

mean +? -ie

Noun

meanie (plural meanies)

1. (informal, chiefly childish) A mean (unkind or miserly) person; a killjoy.

   Teacher kept me in after school again. What a meanie!

   That meanie wouldn't even lend me the bus fare.
2. (informal) A villain.

   Synonym: baddie

Translations

Derived terms

• blue meanie
• pink meanie (Drymonema larsoni)

Further reading

• meanie at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Alternative forms

• mayne, mayné, meiny, meynee, meynie

Etymology

From Middle English meine, meyne, from Anglo-Norman maigné, meyné et al., Old French mesnie (“household”), from Vulgar Latin *m?nsi?n?ta, from Latin m?nsi?, m?nsi?n (“house”). Compare menial.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?me?ni/

Noun

meinie (plural meinies)

1. (now rare, Scotland, Ireland) A household, or family.
2. (archaic or historical) A retinue.
3. (now Scotland) A crowd of people; a rabble.
   • 1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, [Act III, scene i]:

     For the mutable ranke-?ented Meynie, / Let them regard me, as I doe not flatter, / And therein behold them?elues.