Medieval

How to spell medieval

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce medieval

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does medieval mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the Middle Ages, the period of European history roughly between the fifth and fifteenth centuries.

Medieval in a sentence

• The museum displayed a collection of medieval armour and weapons.

• The old town centre still has narrow medieval streets and stone walls.

Where does medieval come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is a modern Latin coinage, assembled from the phrase medium aevum, which literally meant 'the middle age'. Medius meant 'middle' and aevum meant 'an age' or 'a span of life', the same root that lies behind words like 'eternal' and 'age' itself. Scholars writing in Latin used medium aevum to describe the long stretch of European history sitting between classical antiquity and their own time, and the adjective medievalis was formed from it. English took the word up only in the early nineteenth century, as historians began treating the period as a distinct field of study. The spelling trap comes straight from that Latin parentage: the 'medi' part keeps its 'i', and British writers also meet the older variant 'mediaeval', which preserves the joined 'ae' of aevum.

How the word is built

• medi- (from Latin medius: middle)
• ev- (from aevum: age)
• -al (adjective suffix)

British and American spelling

Medieval is the American spelling. British English spells it mediaeval.