moyen

See also: moyén

English

Etymology

From Middle English moyen, moene, a variation of mene, meene, borrowed from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin mediānus (“that is in the middle, middle”), from Latin medius (“middle”). Doublet of mid and mean.

Noun

moyen (countable and uncountable, plural moyens)

1. (obsolete, chiefly Scotland) Intercession; intervention.

Further reading

• “moyen, n1.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French moyen, from Old French moien, earlier meien, inherited from Latin mediānus. Doublet of médian, a borrowing, and also of misaine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mwa.jɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

moyen m (plural moyens)

1. way, method, mean of doing something
2. medium

Synonyms

• capacité

Derived terms

• au moyen de
• avec les moyens du bord
• employer les grands moyens
• la fin justifie les moyens
• moyen de transport
• moyens du bord
• oreille moyenne
• perdre ses moyens
• qui veut la fin veut les moyens
• vivre au-dessus de ses moyens

Descendants

• → Swedish: mojäng

Adjective

moyen (feminine moyenne, masculine plural moyens, feminine plural moyennes)

1. middle
2. average
3. (Canada, informal, euphemistic) Big; impressive; serious
   • 1996, Chrystine Brouillet, C'est pour mieux t'aimer mon enfant, →ISBN, page 52:

     "Tu t'es embarquée dans une moyenne galère, Biscuit!"

     You got yourself something big there, Cookie!

4. (linguistics) middle
   • 1976, Cornelius J. Ruigh, “Observations sur la flexion des verbes du type τρίβω, φρύγω: l'origine des alternances ῑ/ῐ et ῡ/ῠ”, in Studies in Greek, Italic, and Indo-European linguistics: offered to Leonard R. Palmer on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, June 5, 1976, →ISBN, page 340:

     [N]ormalement, le vocalisme radical du parfait moyen est semblable à celui de l'aoriste passif[.]

     Normally, the root vocalism of the perfect middle is similar to that of the aorist passive.

Synonyms

• ordinaire

Derived terms

• à moyen terme
• classe moyenne
• Moyen Âge
• moyen anglais
• moyen breton
• moyen français
• moyen gallois
• moyen irlandais
• moyen néerlandais
• moyen perse
• poids moyen

Related terms

• moyennement
• Moyen Âge, Moyen-Âge
• Moyen-Orient

See also

• médian

Further reading

• “moyen”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Scots

Alternative forms

• moyan, moin

Etymology

From Middle English moyen, moene, a variation of mene, meene, borrowed from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin mediānus (“that is in the middle, middle”), from Latin medius (“middle”).

Noun

moyen (plural moyens)

1. mediation; intervention

Further reading

• “moyen, -an, n¹”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “moyen, n., v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.