# meridian

> English word · Noun · IPA /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/ · frequency rank #17,673

## Definitions
1. In full celestial meridian: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith for a particular point on the Earth's surface.
2. In full terrestrial meridian: a great circle on the Earth's surface, passing through the geographic poles (the terrestrial North Pole and South Pole); also, half of such a circle extending from pole to pole, all points of which have the same longitude.
3. The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
4. The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
5. The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
6. A ring or half-ring with markings in which an artificial globe is installed and may spin.
7. A line passing through the poles of any sphere; a notional line on the surface of a curved or round body (in particular, an eyeball).
8. The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
9. The south.
10. Midday, noon.
11. A midday rest; a siesta.
12. A particular area or situation considered as having a specific characteristic or identity; also, the characteristics, habits, or tastes of a specific group, locale, etc.
13. An alcoholic drink taken at midday.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“midday, noon; position of the sun at noon; the south; longitude of a place; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman meridien (“midday”), Middle French meridien (“midday; the south; terrestrial meridian; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) (modern French méridien), and Old French meridiane, meridiiene, and from their etymon Latin merīdiānum (“midday; position of the sun at noon; the south”), a noun use of the neuter form of merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”); see further at etymology 1.
Sense 1.1 (“celestial meridian”) is ultimately modelled after Latin merīdiāna līnea (“meridian line”). Sense 5.2 (“midday rest; siesta”) is modelled after Late Latin meridiana (“midday; midday rest”), probably short for Latin merīdiāna hōra (“midday time”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Easily confused with
- **median** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/median-vs-meridian)

## Common misspellings (11)
`emridian`, `meirdian`, `merdiian`, `meridain`, `meriddian`, `meridiann`, `meridina`, `meriidan`, `merridian`, `mmeridian`, `mreidian`

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