Mean

How to spell mean

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mean

What does mean mean?

1. verbTo intend to convey, express, or refer to something.
2. adjectiveUnkind, spiteful, or cruel in behaviour towards others.
3. adjectiveUnwilling to spend or give money; miserly.
4. nounThe arithmetic average of a set of numbers; the central value.

Mean in a sentence

• verb

  I did not mean to send that email before lunch.

• adjective

  It was mean of him to mock her accent in front of the team.

• adjective

  He was too mean to leave even a small tip after the meal.

• noun

  The mean of the monthly sales figures was just under four thousand.

• verb

  The new road signs mean that the diversion is now permanent.

• adjective

  The manager had a mean streak that the staff quietly dreaded.

Where does mean come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This short word is really three look-alike words that fell together in spelling. The 'intend, signify' sense comes from the Old English verb mænan, meaning to have in mind or to tell, a close relative of German meinen 'to think or believe'. The 'unkind, low, or stingy' sense descends from a separate Old English word, gemæne, which originally meant 'common' or 'shared by all'; from 'common' it slid first to 'ordinary and inferior' and then to 'base, ignoble', and in Britain especially to 'tight-fisted with money'. The third sense, the mathematical 'average' or 'middle point', arrived much later through Old French meien and ultimately the Latin medianus, meaning 'in the middle' (the same root that gives us 'median' and 'medium'). Because all three landed on the same four letters, the spelling is simple and regular; the only real trap is its sound-alike 'mien', meaning a person's bearing or look.

How the word is built

• mean (a single root; in the 'intend' sense from Old English mænan, in the 'stingy/low' sense from Old English gemæne 'common', and in the 'average' sense from Latin medianus 'in the middle')