# median

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmiː.dɪən/ · frequency rank #6,591

## Definitions
1. A central vein or nerve, especially the median vein or median nerve running through the forearm and arm.
2. A line segment joining the vertex of triangle to the midpoint of the opposing side.
3. 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.
4. The area separating two lanes of opposite-direction traffic.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **Mein** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-mein)
- **Megan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-megan)
- **medic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medic)
- **medium** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medium)
- **Medina** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medina)
- **Meghan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-meghan)
- **Medici** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medici)
- **menial** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-menial)
- **Meehan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-meehan)
- **Medway** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medway)
- **medical** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medical)
- **Mexican** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-mexican)
- **mediate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-mediate)
- **meridian** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-meridian)
- **mean** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mean-vs-median)
- **media** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/media-vs-median)
- **medal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medal-vs-median)
- **Medea** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medea-vs-median)
- **Marian** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/marian-vs-median)
- **madman** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/madman-vs-median)

## Common misspellings (7)
`emdian`, `mdeian`, `medain`, `meddian`, `mediann`, `meidan`, `mmedian`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/median