medial

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)

2. (mathematics) Of or pertaining to a mean or average.

   medial allegation

3. Situated in or near the middle; not at either end.
   2. (anatomy, zootomy) Pertaining to the inside; closer to the median plane of the body or the midline of an organ.

      Coordinate terms: mesial, median

      Antonym: lateral

      The medial side of the knee faces the other knee, while the outer side of the knee is lateral.

      • 2013 February 6, Jen Christiensen, “Vonn’s injury ‘career-delayer,’ not ‘career ender’”, in CNN‎:

        Her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) are torn and Vonn has a lateral fracture of the tibial plateau, the upper end of the tibia or shin bone.

   4. (anatomy) Pertaining to the middle layer of a blood vessel, to its tunica media.

      Mönckeberg medial sclerosis

   6. (entomology) Of or pertaining to the media and/or the areas of the wing next to it.
   8. (phonetics, linguistics) (of a speech sound, or a character or sequence thereof) In the middle of a word.
   10. (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.

   12. (linguistics) Closer to the addressee.

Coordinate terms

human anatomy direction adjectivesedit

• anterior
• distal
• dorsal
• lateral
• medial
• posterior
• proximal
• ventral

Derived terms

• admedial
• alligation medial
• antemedial
• anterodorsomedial
• anteromedial
• antimedial
• apicomedial
• basomedial
• bimedial
• buccomedial
• caudomedial
• centromedial
• corticomedial
• craniomedial
• distomedial
• dorsomedial
• ectomedial
• epimedial
• frontomedial
• inferomedial
• intermedial
• labiomedial
• lateromedial
• medial canthus
• medial capital
• medial collateral ligament
• medial cuneiform bone
• medial epicondyle
• medial epicondylitis
• medial geniculate nucleus
• medial graph
• medialise
• mediality
• medialization
• medialize
• medial lemniscus
• medial longitudinal fasciculus
• medially
• medial malleolus, medial mal
• medial moraine
• medialmost
• medialness
• medialorbitofrontal
• medial palpebral artery
• medial pterygoid muscle
• medial pterygoid nerve
• medial pterygoid plate
• medial rectus
• medial s
• medial slang
• medialward, medialwards
• medio-
• mesomedial
• nonmedial
• orbitomedial
• paramedial
• plantomedial
• posteromedial, posteriomedial
• posteroventromedial
• postmedial
• premedial
• proximomedial
• radiomedial
• rostromedial
• submedial
• supermedial
• superomedial
• temporomedial
• transmedial
• ventromedial

Related terms

• median
• mesial (see explanation of overlap)

Translations

of or pertaining to a mean or average

Bulgarian: среден (bg) (sreden) Finnish: keskimääräinen (fi), keski- (fi) German: mittel (de) Hungarian: középső (hu), közép- (hu) Romanian: intermediar (ro), median (ro) Russian: сре́дний (ru) (srédnij) Spanish: medio (es)

in or near the middle; not at either end

Bulgarian: среден (bg) (sreden) Finnish: keski- (fi) German: zentral (de), mittig (de) Romanian: median (ro)

closer to the median plane or midline

Finnish: mediaalinen (fi), sisäpuolinen German: medial (de), median (de) Greek: έσω (el) (éso) Hungarian: belső (hu), bel- (hu), mediális (hu) Romanian: median (ro) Russian: медиа́льный (ru) (mediálʹnyj), среди́нный (ru) (sredínnyj)

of a consonant, central

Finnish: keski- (fi) German: zentral (de) Romanian: medial (ro)

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

• “medial”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “medial”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Imelda, mailed, Deilam, Dameli, maelid

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin medialis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /medˈi̯aːl/

• Audio (Germany):

  (file)

Adjective

medial (strong nominative masculine singular medialer, not comparable)

1. medial

Declension

Positive forms of medial (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist medial	sie ist medial	es ist medial	sie sind medial
strong declension (without article)	nominative	medialer	mediale	mediales	mediale
	genitive	medialen	medialer	medialen	medialer
	dative	medialem	medialer	medialem	medialen
	accusative	medialen	mediale	mediales	mediale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der mediale	die mediale	das mediale	die medialen
	genitive	des medialen	der medialen	des medialen	der medialen
	dative	dem medialen	der medialen	dem medialen	den medialen
	accusative	den medialen	die mediale	das mediale	die medialen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein medialer	eine mediale	ein mediales	(keine) medialen
	genitive	eines medialen	einer medialen	eines medialen	(keiner) medialen
	dative	einem medialen	einer medialen	einem medialen	(keinen) medialen
	accusative	einen medialen	eine mediale	ein mediales	(keine) medialen

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

Declension of medial

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	medial		medială		mediali	mediale
	definite	medialul		mediala		medialii	medialele
genitive- dative	indefinite	medial		mediale		mediali	mediale
	definite	medialului		medialei		medialilor	medialelor

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

• medialmente

Derived terms

• anteromedial
• inferomedial
• superomedial

Further reading

• “medial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024