moyen

See also: moyén

French

Etymology

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

Descendants

• Swedish: mojäng

Adjective

moyen (feminine singular 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 moyene 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

Related terms

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

See also

• médian

Further reading

• “moyen” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).