"M" Word Origins

Medina

Arabic

From Arabic المدينة (al-madīna, "the city").

mediocre

Latin

From French médiocre, from Latin mediocris ("in a middle state, moderate"), from medius ("middle").

mediocrity

Latin

From Latin mediocritās, from mediocris ("middling, moderate").

medireview

Origin

Modification of medieval by automated string substitution of review for eval, a JavaScript function short for evaluate (to avoid the risk of unintended code execution). Coined accidentally by Yahoo! Mail in 2001.

meditate

Latin

From Latin meditātus, past participle of meditārī ("to reflect upon, consider").

meditation

Latin

From Latin meditātiō, from meditārī ("to reflect upon, consider").

meditative

French

From French méditatif, related to meditate.

Mediterranean

Latin

From Latin mediterrāneus ("inland"), built from medius ("middle") and terra ("land").

medium

Latin

From Latin medium, the neuter form of medius ("middle").

mediumwave

Origin

From medium + wave.

medley

Old French

From Old French medlee, related to the verb "meddle" (to mix).

Medusa

Latin

From Latin Medūsa, from Greek Μέδουσα (Médousa), related to a verb meaning "to rule" or "to protect."

medusahead

Origin

By appellativization from Medusa + head.

mee

Origin

Borrowed from Hokkien 麵 (mī), meaning "noodles."

meed

Origin

From Middle English meede, mede, from Old English mēd, meord, meard, meorþ (“meed, reward, pay, price, compensation, bribe”), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀdu, from Proto-Germanic *mizdō (“meed”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰéh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch miede (“wages”), Low German Meed (“rent”), German Miete (“rent”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌶𐌳𐍉 (mizdō, “meed, reward, payment, recompense”); further Ancient Greek μισθός (misthós, “wage”), Old Church Slavonic мьзда (mĭzda, “reward”), Sanskrit मीळ्ह (mīḷhá), Sanskrit मीढ (mīḍhá), Avestan 𐬨𐬍𐬲𐬛𐬀 (mīžda).

Meehan

Irish

Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Miadhacháin (“descendant of Miadachán”), a diminutive of miadhach (“honourable”).

meek

Middle English

From Middle English meke, likely borrowed from Old Norse mjúkr ("soft, meek").

meeker

Origin

Named after the maker of a well-known brand of harrow, whose name became a verb for the act of using one.

meekly

Origin

From Middle English mekely, mekeliche, equivalent to meek + -ly. Compare Old Norse mjúkliga.

meekness

Origin

From Middle English mekenesse, meknes, meocnesse; equivalent to meek + -ness.

meemaw

Origin

Probably an affectionate alteration of mama or reduplication of maw (“mother”).

Meena

Sanskrit

From Hindi मीना (mīnā), from Sanskrit मीन (mīna, "fish").

Meenakshi

Origin

From Tamil மீனாக்ஷி (mīṉākṣi), meaning "fish-eyed," a traditional description of beautiful eyes.

meep

Origin

An imitative word — it simply mimics the sound itself, like "moo" or "beep."

meet

Old English

From Old English metan ("to meet, find, encounter"), tracing back to a very old Germanic and Indo-European root meaning "to come together" — related to the word "moot."

meeting

Old English

Formed from the verb "meet" plus the suffix "-ing," going back to Old English mēting.

meetup

Origin

Deverbal from meet up.

Meg

Origin

Clipping of nutmeg.

mega

Greek

From the Greek prefix "mega-," meaning "great" or "large" — the same root found in words like megaphone and megabyte.

megalith

Origin

PIE word *méǵh₂s From mega- (prefix meaning ‘very large, great’) + -lith (suffix meaning ‘stone’), a back-formation from megalithic probably modelled after monolith. from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “stone”)

megalomania

Origin

Borrowed from French mégalomanie; equivalent to megalo- + -mania.

megalomaniac

Greek

Built from "megalomania" (from Greek megalo-, "great," plus mania, "madness") plus the suffix "-ac."

megalopolis

Origin

From megalo- (“great”) + -polis (“city”).

Megan

Persian

Borrowed from Welsh, as a pet form of Margaret, which ultimately traces back through Greek and Persian roots.

megaphone

Origin

From "mega-" (great) plus "-phone" (sound), literally "great sound."

megatron

Origin

An old technical term for the tube, unrelated to the fictional robot villain of the same name from the Transformers franchise, which was coined separately.

Meggie

Origin

From Meg + -ie.

Meghna

Sanskrit

A transliteration of Bengali মেঘনা (meghona), from মেঘ (megh, “cloud”), from Sanskrit मेघ (megha).

megrim

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French migraigne, semi-learned borrowing from Late Latin hēmicrānia (“pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρᾱνίᾰ (hēmikrāníă), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “skull”) (whence also English cranium). Doublet of migraine and hemicrania.

Megumi

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese めぐみ (Megumi).

meh

Yiddish · 1990

Popularized by The Simpsons in the 1990s, though it may ultimately trace back to a similar Yiddish expression of indifference.

Mehmet

Arabic

From Ottoman Turkish, ultimately from Arabic Muhammad — making it a doublet of "Muhammad" and "Mahomet."

Mehra

Origin

Borrowed from Hindi मेहरा (mehrā), cf. Mehrotra, Malhotra.

Mehta

Origin

Transliteration of Gujarati મહેતા (mahetā).

Mei

Origin

From Mandarin 美 (měi), meaning "beautiful."

Meier

German

From German Meier.

Meiji

Japanese

From Japanese 明治 (meiji), meaning roughly "enlightened rule."

Mein

Dutch

* Borrowed from Dutch and German Mein, from the personal name Maino, Meino, from a derivative of Proto-West Germanic *magan (“to be able, be strong”). * Also as a German surname, from the adjective (ge)mein (“mean, nasty”). * As a Scottish surname, variant of Main.