medium: [16] Latin medius meant ‘middle’ (it came from an Indo-European source that also produced English mid and middle). Its neuter form, used as a noun, has given English medium, but it has made several other contributions to the language, including mean ‘average’, medial [16], median [16], mediate [16] (and its derivatives immediate [16] – etymologically ‘acting directly, without any mediation’ – and intermediate [17]), medieval [19] (literally ‘of the Middle Ages’), mediocre, meridian, mitten, and moiety.
Its Italian descendant is mezzo ‘half’, which has given English intermezzo [19], mezzanine [18], mezzosoprano [18], and mezzotint [18]. => immediate, intermezzo, mean, median, mediate, middle, mitten
medium (n.)
1580s, "a middle ground, quality, or degree," from Latin medium "the middle, midst, center; interval," noun use of neuter of adjective medius (see medial (adj.)). Meaning "intermediate agency, channel of communication" is from c. 1600. That of "person who conveys spiritual messages" first recorded 1853, from notion of "substance through which something is conveyed." Artistic sense (oil, watercolors, etc.) is from 1854. Happy medium is the "golden mean," Horace's aurea mediocritas.
medium (adj.)
1660s, "average," from medium (n.). The Latin adjective was medius. Meaning "intermediate" is from 1796. As a size designation from 1711. as a designation of cooked meat, it is attested from 1931, short for medium-rare (1881).
双语例句
1. Choose a soft, medium or firm mattress to suit their individual needs.
针对他们各人不同的需要挑选柔软、软硬适中或者坚硬的床垫。
来自柯林斯例句
2. With a nice dark colour, the wine is medium to full bodied.
这种葡萄酒色泽深暗悦目，是中等浓郁至浓香型的。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I would class my garden as medium in size.
我的花园只能算是中等大小。
来自柯林斯例句
4. But Artaud was increasingly dissatisfied with film as a medium.
但是阿尔托对电影这种表现方式越来越不满。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Sift the flour and baking powder into a medium-sized mixing bowl.