Where does “mediocre” come from?
Mediocre comes from Middle English medioker, from French médiocre, from Middle French médiocre, from Latin medius meaning middle, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European medʰi-.
mediocre (English): Having no peculiar or outstanding features; not...
Definitions
- Having no peculiar or outstanding features; not...
Ancestry of “mediocre”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | medioker | — |
| 2 | French | médiocre | mediocre |
| 3 | Middle French | médiocre | — |
| 4 | Latin | mediocris | middling, moderate, medium; tolerable, ordinary,... |
| 5 | Latin | medius | middle; half; moderate |
| 6 | Latin | locus | place, spot; a passage of literature; "in the... |
| 7 | Old Latin | stlocus | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | stlokos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | stel- | to put, to place; to locate |