English → Latin
“mean” in Latin
mediocrismiddling, moderate, medium; tolerable, ordinary, normal; mediocre, indifferentvīlischeap, inexpensive; base, vile, mean, worthless, cheap, paltrytenuisthin, slender, slim, lank; especially; fine, rare, thin; pure, clear, not coarse; weak, feeble, tenuousexiguusstrict, exact; paltry, inadequate, small, scanty, slight, littleparvussmall; little; puny; cheap; petty; trifling; ignorable; unimportantlevislight, not heavy; easy to digest; quick, swift, fleet, nimble, rapidlevidēnsisslight, of poor make or construction.humilislow, lowly, small, slight; shallow; base, mean, humble, obscure, poor, needy, insignificant, low; short, not tall (of phignōbilisunknown, obscure; baseborn, of low birth, base-born, ignobleobscūrusdark, dusky, shadowy; indistinct, unintelligible, obscure; intricate, involved, complicated
The English word mean itself goes back to Latin medius.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
mean adj.
Middle, intermediate, medius. In the mean time, interim (at some time during the interval: interim of a point of time; interea, of a space, Döderlein; but Vid: Pr. Intr., ii., note 7, p. 195): interea (during the same time, while a thing was going on; usually in connection with a conjunction; e.g., interea dum, or quod).
Moderate, mediocris; modicus medius (in the Silver Age).
Of inferior quality, vilis; tenuis; exiguus [Vid: BASE].
Of small value, exiguus; parvus; levis; levidensis (Cic.).
Of small importance, exiguus; tenuis; levis.
Without dignity, humilis; ignobilis; obscurus, sordidus (very mean): to be of mean descent, ortum esse obscuro, humili, ignobili loco (Cic.); sordido loco ortum esse (Liv.).
Low-minded, humilis; abjectus; illiberalis; sordidus.
mean s.
The middle, mediocrity, mediocritas (☞ medium, as a substantive, is not Latin): temperamentum (the right measure, mediocritas, quae est inter nimium et parum; ☞ Ciceronian, but not common in the best prose): modus (e.g., extra modum prodire): the golden mean, aurea mediocritas (Hor., Od., 2, 10, 5): the mean is the best, medio tutissimus ibis (Ov., Met., 2, 137); mediocritas optima est: to keep or observe the mean, medium quiddam tenere; tenere mediocritatem, quae est inter nimium et parum; in anything, mediocritate moderari aliquid; temperamentum servare in aliqua re (Plin. Paneg., 3, in.).
mean v.
To indicate, denote, indicare; significare; ostendere; portendere.
To have a certain signification (of words), significare; valere; sonare: what does this word mean? quid sonat haec vox? quae vis est hujus vocis? sub hac voce quae subjicienda est vis?
To understand, or design to signify, dicere; significare; velle: whom do we mean when we speak of a rich man? or, what do we mean by rich? quem intelligimus divitem? (Cic.)
To purpose, intend, propositum habere aliquid; cogitare aliquid, or de aliqua re; quaerere aliquid; habere aliquid in animo est mihi aliquid in animo; velle.
To signify, to be of a certain importance, vim quandam habere; momenti, discriminis, esse; aliquid esse: to mean nothing, nullius esse momenti; nullam habere vim.
To be of a certain kind or tendency, sibi velle; e.g., hostes admiratio cepit, quidnam sibi repentinus clamor vellet (Liv., ; what it meant): quid ergo illae sibi volunt statuae inauratae? (what mean? Cic., Verr., 2, 61, 150).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for mean?
- The usual Latin words for “mean” are mediocris, vīlis, tenuis; also exiguus, parvus, levis. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.