# medium

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmiː.di.əm/ · frequency rank #2,454

## Definitions
1. The material of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent.
2. The materials or empty space through which signals, waves, or forces pass.
3. A format for communicating or presenting information.
4. A nutrient substance, commonly a solution or solid, for the growth of cells in vitro.
5. A substance, structure, or environment in which living organisms subsist, grow or are cultured.
6. A means, channel, agency or go-between through which communication, commerce, etc is conveyed or carried on, or by which an aim is achieved.
7. The materials used to finish a workpiece using a mass finishing or abrasive blasting process.
8. A liquid base which carries pigment in paint.
9. A means of expression, in the arts, such as a material (oil, pastel, clay, etc) or method or style (expressionism, jazz, etc).
10. The mean or middle term of a syllogism, that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
11. Someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world.
12. A middle place or degree.
13. An average; sometimes the mathematical mean.
14. Anything of a middle rank or position.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Latin medium, neuter of medius (“middle”), from Proto-Italic *meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between”). Compare middle. Doublet of mid, medio, media, and meson.

## Easily confused with
- **modicum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medium-vs-modicum)
- **media** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/media-vs-medium)
- **medic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medic-vs-medium)
- **median** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-medium)
- **Medina** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medina-vs-medium)
- **medial** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medial-vs-medium)
- **Medici** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/medici-vs-medium)

## Common misspellings (8)
`emdium`, `mdeium`, `meddium`, `medimu`, `mediumm`, `meduim`, `meidum`, `mmedium`

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