different between meid vs mid

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Afrikaans meid, from Dutch meid. Doublet of maid.

Pronunciation

• (S Africa, UK) IPA^(key): /me?t/

Noun

meid (plural meide)

1. (South Africa, offensive) A young black woman. [from 20th c.]
   • 1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage 1998, p. 113:

     The last time she heard Capt Stolz saying: ‘Come on, meid, speak up. Or do you want to die like Gordon Ngubene?’

Anagrams

• Demi, Diem, Dime, demi, demi-, dime, idem

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch meid (“girl”).

Noun

meid (plural meide)

1. (now offensive) A young Black woman.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch meit, variant of meget, from Old Dutch *megith, *magath, from Proto-Germanic *magaþs. Doublet of maagd.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?i?t/
• Hyphenation: meid
• Rhymes: -?i?t
• Homophones: mijd, mijdt, mijt

Noun

meid f (plural meiden, diminutive meisje n or meiske n or meidje n)

1. girl, lass

2. maid

   Synonyms: bode, deerne, dienstbode, dienstmaagd

3. Commonly used as an address for female pets, especially female dogs.

Usage notes

• Use in the singular may connote fortitude, bravery or acting like a grown-up, but it may also connote vulgarity or subservience due to the meaning “maid”. These connotations are much weaker in the plural, which can be used neutrally with little regard for context.
• Use for adult women (and to a lesser degree for older adolescent girls) is often considered patronising, which is especially true of the diminutives.
• The diminutive meidje is uncommon; the regular diminutive is meisje along with its variants meiske and meisie.

Derived terms

• dienstmeid
• huismeid
• keukenmeid
• meis
• meisje

Anagrams

• idem

Middle English

Noun

meid

1. Alternative form of mede (“reward”)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

meid m (definite singular meiden, indefinite plural meidar, definite plural meidane)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 1901; superseded by mei

Veps

Pronoun

meid

1. partitive of mö

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

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 *méd?yos (“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.

Adjective

mid (not comparable)

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 ? ?/.
4. (African-American Vernacular, slang) Midgrade marijuana, or by extension, anything of mediocre quality

Preposition

mid

1. Amid.

Derived terms

See also those listed at Category:English words prefixed with mid-.

Related terms

• midday
• midnight

Translations

Etymology 2

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

Noun

mid (plural mids)

1. (archaic) middle

Etymology 3

Clipping of mid-range.

Noun

mid (plural mids)

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.

Preposition

mid

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

References

• mid in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• DMI, Dim, IDM, IM'd, IMD, MDI, dim, dim.

German Low German

Alternative forms

• met (in some dialects)
• mit (in some dialects)
• möt (Low Prussian)

Etymology

From Middle Low German mit, mid, from Old Saxon mid. Cognate with North Frisian mits (“with”), Dutch met (“with”), German mit (“with”). For more, see Middle English mid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?t/

Preposition

mid

1. (in some dialects) with

Hungarian

Etymology

mi (“what”) +? -d (“your, of yours”, possessive suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?mid]
• Hyphenation: mid

Pronoun

mid

1. second-person singular single-possession possessive of mi

Declension

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English mid (“with, in conjunction with, in company with, together with, into the presence of, through, by means of, by, among, in, at (time), in the sight of, opinion of”, preposition), from Proto-West Germanic *midi (“with”).

Cognate with North Frisian mits (“with”), Dutch met (“with”), Low German mit (“with”), German mit (“with”), Danish med (“with”), Icelandic með (“with”), Ancient Greek ???? (metá, “among, between, with”), Albanian me (“with, together”), Sanskrit ????? (smat, “together, at the same time”).

Alternative forms

• med, medde, midde, mide, mit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mid/

Preposition

mid

1. with
2. amid, amidst

References

• “mid (adj. & pref.)” in the Middle English Dictionary (1954–2001)

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English midd

Alternative forms

• med, medde, midde, mide, mit

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mid/

Adjective

mid

1. mid-, middle, central, intermediate
2. that is or are in the middle or intermediate in time

Descendants

• English: mid

References

• “mid (adj. & pref.)” in the Middle English Dictionary (1954–2001)

Old English

Alternative forms

• mit, miþ, mið

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *midi. Compare Old Saxon mid, Old High German mit, Old Norse með.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mid/

Preposition

mid

1. with

Descendants

• Middle English: mid

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• midi, mit, mith, met

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *midi.

Preposition

mid

1. with

Adverb

mid

1. with, together, along