Added 7 October 2026

median

/ˈmiː.di.ən/ noun

Latin root: mediānus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about median at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A central vein or nerve, especially the median vein or median nerve running through the forearm and arm. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
A line segment joining the vertex of triangle to the midpoint of the opposing side.
A number separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, population, or probability distribution. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one (e.g., the median of {3, 3, 5, 9, 11} is 5). If there is an even number of observations, then there is no single middle value; the median is then usually defined to be the mean of the two middle values.

Situated in a middle, central, or intermediate part, section, or range of (something).
In the middle of an organ, structure etc.; towards the median plane of an organ or limb.
Having the median as its value.

Borrowed from Middle French median, from Latin mediānus (“of or pertaining to the middle”, adjective), from medius (“middle”) (see medium), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”). Doublet of mean and mizzen. Cognate with Old English midde, middel (“middle”). More at middle.