Added 8 October 2026
mean
/miːn/ verb
In Latin: volo Wiktionary
verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about mean at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
To intend. To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
-
To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
-
To have as intentions of a given kind.
Don't be angry; she meant well.
adjective
adjective
-
Having the mean as its value; average.
The mean family has 2.4 children.
- Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
noun
- A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
- An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
- Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
Origin
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”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)