mean
/miːn/verb, adjective, noun
mean is spelled M-E-A-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 339 times per million words in written English, the 274th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, mean means “To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in mean?
| Letters | 4: M-E-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 339 times per million words; the 274th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mean?
Mean appears 339 times per million words in written English, the 274th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mean?
- UK /miːn/
- /miːn/
- /mijən/
Mean has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mean.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mean
Sounds like: mesne, mien (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mean?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mean from its last stressed vowel (/in/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: name, amen, mane.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mean
- means present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- meaning participle, present
- meant participle, past
- meaner comparative
- meanest superlative
- myn
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mean mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.
I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
- 2
To have as intentions of a given kind.
Don't be angry; she meant well.
- 3
To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine.
Actually this desk was meant for the subeditor.
- 4
To intend an ensuing comment or statement as an explanation.
Your reasoning seems needlessly abstruse, complex, and verbose for me. I mean, could you dumb it down for my sake?
- 5
To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
The sky is red this morning–does that mean we're in for a storm?
- 6
Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.
What does this hieroglyph mean?
- 7
Of a person (or animal etc): to intend to express, to imply, to hint at, to allude.
I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.
- 8
To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
Does she really mean what she said to him last night?
adjective
- 1
obsoleteCommon; general.
- 2
archaicOf a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
a man of mean parentage
- 3
Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
a mean appearance
- 4
Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
You hurt her feelings - that was a mean thing to do.
- 5
Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
- 6
UKUngenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.
He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
- 7
Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating.
- 8
Intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise; bearing ill will towards another.
Watch out for her: she's mean. I said good morning to her, and she punched me in the nose.
- 9
Having the mean as its value; average.
The mean family has 2.4 children.
- 10
obsoleteMiddling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
I have declared in the causes what harm costiveness hath done in procuring this disease; if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is […].
noun
- 1
A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
- 2
obsoleteAn intermediate step or intermediate steps.
Verily in this treatise this hath been mine only purpose; and the mean to bring the same to effect hath been such as whereby I studied to profit wholesomely, not to please delicately.
- 3
Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
- 4
The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.
- 5
Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey.
- 6
The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms.
- 7
Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate mean?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of mean: mn.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mean in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | avoir l'intention, entendre faire , signifier, vouloir dire , méchant, cruel |
| German | beabsichtigen , bedeuten , gemein , meinen , böse , mittelmäßig |
| Portuguese | pretender, tencionar , querer dizer, indicar , significar , querer |
| Spanish | pretender , querer decir , malo , intencionar/querer decir , decir/hablar en serio , significar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mean come from?
From Middle English menen (“to intend; remember; lament; comfort”), from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, complain”), Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; complain”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyn- (“to think”), or perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meyno-, extended form of Proto-Indo-European *mey-. Germanic cognates include West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), German meinen (“to think, mean, believe”), Old Saxon mēnian.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).