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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

mean

/miːn/
To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English menen (“to intend; remember; lament; comfort”), from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, complain”), Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; complain”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyn- (“to think”), or perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meyno-, extended form of Proto-Indo-European *mey-.

    Germanic cognates include West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), German meinen (“to think, mean, believe”), Old Saxon mēnian. Indo-European cognates include Old Irish mían (“wish, desire”) and Polish mienić (“to signify, believe”). Non-Indo-European cognates include Finnish mainita (“to mention”), Finnish meinata (“to mean, to plan, to intend”) Estonian mainima (“to mention”), Northern Sami máinnastit (“to tell”). Related to moan.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English mene, imene, from Old English mǣne, ġemǣne (“common, public, general, universal”), from Proto-West Germanic *gamainī, from Proto-Germanic *gamainiz (“common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change, exchange, share”). Doublet of common.

    Cognate with West Frisian mien (“general, universal”), Dutch gemeen (“common, mean”), German gemein (“common, mean, nasty”), Danish gemen, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (gamains, “common, unclean”), Latin commūnis (“shared, common, general”) (Old Latin comoinem). For a similar change in definition, see vulgar.

    Etymology 3

    From Middle English meene, borrowed from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin mediānus (“that is in the middle, middle”), from Latin medius (“middle”). Cognate with mid. For the musical sense, compare the cognate Italian mezzano. Doublet of median and mizzen.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishmenen “to intend; remember; lament; comfort”
      • inheritedOld Englishmǣnan “to complain over; grieve; mourn”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*mainijan
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*mainijaną “to mean, think; complain”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*meyn- “to think”
              • derivedProto-Indo-European*meyno-
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*mey- “little, small”
    • rootProto-Indo-European*mey- (change)
    • inheritedMiddle Englishmene “inferior in rank”
      • inheritedOld Englishmǣne “common, shared”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*gamainī “common”
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*gamainiz “common”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishmeene
      • derivedOld Frenchmeien
        • derivedLatinmedius “middle”
          • inheritedProto-Italic*meðios
          • derivedLatinlocus “a place”
          • derivedProto-Indo-European*-teh₂ts
          • derivedProto-Italic*meðjos
          • derivedProto-Indo-European*médʰyos “between”

    Related: English common (doublet), English median (doublet), English mizzen (doublet), West Frisian miene, Old Frisian mēna, Dutch menen, Middle Dutch menen, German meinen, Old Saxon mēnian, Old Irish mían, Polish mienić, Finnish mainita, Finnish meinata, Estonian mainima, Northern Sami máinnastit, West Frisian mien, Dutch gemeen, German gemein, Danish gemen, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃, Latin commūnis, Old Latin comoinem, French moyen, Late Latin mediānus

    Meanings

    verb
    1. To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.
    2. To have as intentions of a given kind.
    3. To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine.
    4. To intend an ensuing comment or statement as an explanation.
    5. To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
    6. Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.
    adj
    1. Common; general.
    2. Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
    3. Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
    4. Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
    5. Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
    6. Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.
    noun
    1. A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
    2. An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
    3. Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
    4. The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.
    5. Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
    6. The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: mean