Median
Origin
From Middle French median, from Latin medianus ("of or pertaining to the middle", adjective.), from medius ("middle") (see medium), from Proto-Indo-European *medhy- ("middle"). Cognate with Old English midde, middel ("middle"). More at middle.
Full definition of median
Noun
median
(plural medians)- (anatomy, now rare) A central vein or nerve, especially the median vein or median nerve running through the forearm and arm. from 15th c.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.3:Why is not our jugular or throat-veine as much at our command as the mediane ?
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.5.2:The Greeks prescribe the median or middle vein to be opened, and so much blood to be taken away as the patient may well spare, and the cut that is made must be wide enough.
- (statistics) The quantity or value at the midpoint of a set of values, such that the variable is equally likely to fall above or below it; the middle value of a discrete series arranged in magnitude (or the mean of the middle two terms when there is an even number of terms). from 19th c.
- (US) The median strip; the area separating two lanes of opposite-direction traffic. from 20th c.
Synonyms
- (median strip) central reservation
Adjective
median
- Situated in the middle; central, intermediate. from 16th c.
- (anatomy, botany) In the middle of an organ, structure etc.; towards the median plane of an organ or limb. from 16th c.
- (statistics) Having the median as its value. from 19th c.