MEDIUMとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

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.

発音

• enPR: mē'diəm, IPA: /ˈmiː.di.əm/
• 韻: -iːdiəm

名詞

medium (plural media or mediums)

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.
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “III. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching the Medium of Sounds.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 220, page 60:

     VVhether any other Liquours, being made Mediums, cauſe a Diuerſity of Sound from Water, it may bee tried: […]

   • 1641 (first performance), [John Denham], The Sophy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1667, →OCLC, Act II, page 18:

     He’s old and jealous, apt for ſuſpitions, ’gainſt which Tyrants ears
     Are never clos’d. The Prince is young,
     Fierce, and ambitious, I muſt bring together
     All theſe extreams, and then remove all Mediums,
     That each may be the others object.

3. A format for communicating or presenting information.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 272:

     [A]t all events, she drank in with eager ear, and admiring mind, anecdote and history of all those excellent traits of disposition, and nobleness of conduct, which made him the idol of his describer, and gave her a knowledge of his temper and character, and the manner in which his boyhood and youth had passed, which she could never have gained by any other medium, and which it was unquestionably right she should know.

   • 2015, “Staging the Politics of Difference: Homi Bhabha's Critical Literacy, Gary A. Olson and Lynn Worsham.”, in Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham, Henry A. Giroux, editors, Politics of Possibility: Encountering the Radical Imagination, page 133:

     Too often writing—in the broadest sense—is treated as a communicational medium where the subjects of that communication are constituted prior to the writing, where the objects of that communication are also constituted prior to that writing, and where the task of writing is seen as transparently mediating between already pregiven subjects, pregiven objects, and a preconstituted mise en scène.

4. (microbiology) A nutrient substance, commonly a solution or solid, for the growth of cells in vitro.
   • 1996, Samuel Baron, editor, Medical Microbiology:

     In some instances one can take advantage of differential carbohydrate fermentation capabilities of microorganisms by incorporating one or more carbohydrates in the medium along with a suitable pH indicator. Such media are called differential media (e.g., eosin methylene blue or MacConkey agar) and are commonly used to isolate enteric bacilli.

5. (biology, horticulture, etc.) A substance, structure, or environment in which living organisms subsist, grow or are cultured.
   • 1895, Bashford Dean., Fishes, Living and Fossil:

     The density of the living medium of fishes exerts upon them a mechanical influence; they are, so to say, balanced in water, free to proceed in all planes of direction...

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.
   • 2007, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Reprint Services Corporation, →ISBN, page 186:

     His loyalty to the English was doubtful and wavering, and his opposition to Post's journey was probably due to fears that his own importance as a medium between the Ohio Indians and the English would be diminished by the former's success.

7. (engineering) The materials used to finish a workpiece using a mass finishing or abrasive blasting process.
8. (countable, plural mediums or media) A liquid base which carries pigment in paint.
9. (painting) A means of expression, in the arts, such as a material (oil, pastel, clay, etc) or method or style (expressionism, jazz, etc).

   Acrylics, oils, charcoal, and gouache are all mediums I used in my painting.

   • 1898, Report of the Public Schools of the State of Missouri, Missouri: Department of Education, page 98:

     Heretofore in following the course, the student has been confined to black and white in the medium of charcoal, pen and ink or pencil. The first introduction to color is by means of the Still Life painting class.

   • 1966, John P. Sedgwick, Discovering Modern Art: The Intelligent Layman's Guide to Painting from Impressionism to Pop:

     It was the woodcut, however, that emerged as the favorite graphic medium of Expressionism. Rejecting the almost limitless pictorial possibilities of lithography, which had dominated printmaking during the nineteenth century, […]

   • 1967, Barnet Kottler, Martin Light, The World of Words: A Language Reader:

     So we get a people in rebellion against a dominant majority, but forced to rebel secretly, to sublimate, as the psychologist would put it — to express themselves culturally through the medium of jaz , and linguistically through a code, a jargon  ...

   • 1974, Karl Siegfried Weimar, German Language and Literature: Seven Essays, Prentice Hall:

     Prose is not the preferred medium of expressionism, yet some outstanding individual examples come to mind, for example: Robert Walser's (1876–1956) surrealistic miniatures and novels of a dreamlike structure reminiscent of Kafka […]

   • 1999, Jet, page 29:

     The Pulitzer board said the award was given “in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.”

10. (countable, logic) The mean or middle term of a syllogism, that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
11. (countable, plural mediums or (rare, nonstandard) media) Someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

      The hall was not too well lit and dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if her ears were straining.

12. (countable) A middle place or degree.

    a happy medium

    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] 215. An Oak and a Willow, Reflexion.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 188:

      [T]he Just Medium of This Case lies betwixt the Pride, and the Abjection of the Two Extreams.

    • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 29:

      Her height was pretty, […] her figure particularly graceful; her size a most becoming medium, between fat and thin, […]

    • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Our Housekeeping”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 453:

      In search of the principle on which joints ought to be roasted, to be roasted enough, and not too much, I myself referred to the Cookery Book, […]. But the principle always failed us by some curious fatality, and we never could hit any medium between redness and cinders.

13. (countable, dated) An average; sometimes the mathematical mean.
    • 1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 5:

      The number of Britiſh ſhips annually arriving in our ports vvas reduced to 1756 ſail, containing 92.559 tons, on a medium of the ſix years vvar, compared vvith the ſix years of peace preceding it.

14. Anything of a middle rank or position.
    • 1891, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, The Historic Note-book: With an Appendix of Battles, page 153:

      Cavalry […] is divided into mediums, heavies, and light cavalry.

派生語

名詞

medium (countable and uncountable, plural mediums) (nominalized)

1. (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a large but larger than a small.

   Synonym: M

2. (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
3. (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
4. (countable, Ireland, dated, informal) A half-pint serving of Guinness (or other stout in some regions).

形容詞

medium (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Arithmetically average.
2. Of intermediate size, degree, amount etc.
3. Of meat, cooked to a point greater than rare but less than well done; typically, so the meat is still red in the centre.
4. (especially clothing, food or drink) That is medium (the manufactured size).

同意語

• See also Thesaurus:intermediate

派生語

関連する語

副詞

medium (not comparable)

1. To a medium extent.

同意語

• mediumly

参照

• “medium”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “medium”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

アナグラム

• edimmu

形容詞

medium

1. inflection of medius:
   1. masculine accusative singular
   2. neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular

名詞

medium n (genitive mediī or medī); second declension

1. middle, center, medium, midst
2. community, public, publicity

語形変化

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

派生語

• e medio abeo
• in medio

派生した語

(Note: all borrowings, inherited terms merged with the descendants of medius.)

名詞

medium

1. accusative/genitive singular of medius

参照

• “medium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “medium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "medium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) the Mediterranean Sea: mare medium or internum
    
  • (ambiguous) the middle ages: media quae vocatur aetas
    
  • (ambiguous) manhood: aetas constans, media, firmata, corroborata (not virilis)
    
  • (ambiguous) to remove a person: e or de medio tollere
    
  • (ambiguous) to become known, become a topic of common conversation (used of things): foras efferri, palam fieri, percrebrescere, divulgari, in medium proferri, exire, emanare
    
  • (ambiguous) to leave a thing undecided: aliquid in medio, in dubio relinquere (Cael. 20. 48)
    
  • (ambiguous) elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    
  • (ambiguous) to bring a subject forward into discussion: in medium proferre aliquid
    
  • (ambiguous) to publish, make public: in medio ponere (proponere)
    
  • (ambiguous) to break off in the middle of the conversation: medium sermonem abrumpere (Verg. Aen. 4. 388)
    
  • (ambiguous) to be neutral: medium esse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be neutral: medium se gerere
    
  • (ambiguous) the centre of the marching column: agmen medium (Liv. 10. 41)
    
  • (ambiguous) the centre: media acies
    
  • (ambiguous) let us leave that undecided: hoc in medio relinquamus