mien
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From French mine (“appearance”) (whence also Danish mine and German Miene), perhaps from Breton min (“face of an animal”), or from Latin minio (“to redden”).[1]
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
mien (countable and uncountable, plural miens)
- (countable, uncountable) Demeanor; facial expression or attitude, especially one which is intended by its bearer.
- 1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, OCLC 625986, page 238:
- Gentlest Guardians marked serene / His early hope, his liberal mien; […]
- 1856, Joseph Turnley, The Language of the Eye, OCLC 11907576, page 111:
- Beauty, like all divine gifts, is everywhere to be seen by the eye of the faithful admirer of nature; and, like all spirits, she is scarcely to be described by words. Her countenance and mien, her path, her hue and carriage, often surpass expression, and soothe the enthusiast into reverie and silence.
- 1860, Stephen Foster (lyrics and music), “Jenny's coming o'er the green”[1]:
- Jenny's coming o'er the green, / Fairer form was never seen, / Winning is her gentle mien; / Why do I love her so?
- 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 7, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., OCLC 762755901:
- taking the air with an infinite sadness of mien, like some disconsolate prisoner, Utterson saw Dr. Jekyll.
- 2015 July 23, Siobhan Roberts, “John Horton Conway: the world’s most charismatic mathematician”, in The Guardian[2]:
- Although still young at heart and head, he looks more and more like his old friend Archimedes, increasingly bearded and increasingly grey, with an otherworldly mien – a look that should earn him a spot in the online quiz featuring portraits of frumpy old men under the rubric “Prof or Hobo?”
- (countable) A specific facial expression.
- 2007, February 10, “Claudia La Rocco”, in Stony Miens and Sad Hearts[3]:
- It’s hard to say which is worse: the press-on smiles favored by many a ballet dancer, or the stony “I’m going to pretend this isn’t happening to me” miens often found in contemporary troupes like White Road.
TranslationsEdit
demeanor; facial expression or attitude, especially one which is intended by its bearer
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specific facial expression
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ReferencesEdit
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle French mien, from Old French meon, from Latin meum, the neuter of meus.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
mien (feminine mienne, masculine plural miens, feminine plural miennes)
Derived termsEdit
- le mien (“mine”)
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “mien”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
AnagramsEdit
Old FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
mien
Usage notesEdit
- chiefly used after an article (un, le, etc.) and before a noun. The noun may be omitted if clear from the context
- un mien fils
- my son
- enveierai le mien
- I will send mine
DescendantsEdit
- French: mien
Pitcairn-NorfolkEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
mien
PlautdietschEdit
PronounEdit
mien
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
Saterland FrisianEdit
EtymologyEdit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
PronunciationEdit
DeterminerEdit
mien
ReferencesEdit
SlovakEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
mien f
NounEdit
mien n
VilamovianEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
NounEdit
mien f
West FrisianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Frisian gemēne, from Proto-West Germanic *gamainī, from Proto-Germanic *gamainiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moynis. Cognate with German gemein, English mean, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (gamains) and Latin commūnis.
AdjectiveEdit
mien
InflectionEdit
Inflection of mien | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | mien | |||
inflected | miene | |||
comparative | miender miener | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | mien | miender miener |
it mienst it mienste | |
indefinite | c. sing. | miene | miendere mienere |
mienste |
n. sing. | mien | miender miener |
mienste | |
plural | miene | miendere mienere |
mienste | |
definite | miene | miendere mienere |
mienste | |
partitive | miens | mienders mieners |
— |
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “mien”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011