這個拼法底下其實是3個不同的字，意思沒有關係， 只是長得一樣。下面分開列出來。跳到 signify; mean · average (statistics) · unkind; cruel
mean
vYou can picture this mean as the arrow that runs from a word (or an action, or a sign) to the idea sitting behind it. When you say a word means something, you are following that arrow from the surface to what it points at. Whether the arrow starts from a word ('what does it mean?'), from a person's head ('what I meant to say'), or from an event ('this means trouble'), it is always the same move: this here stands for / points to that.
From the word’s history
From Old English mænan 'to intend (something), to indicate or convey a sense when using a word', from a Proto-Indo-European root tied to opinion/intent — so the oldest layer already fuses 'what I have in mind' with 'what my words point at'.
源自古英語 mænan「打算、用字時所指或所傳達的意思」，再上溯到一個與『想法、意圖』相關的印歐語根。也就是說，最古老的那一層，已經把『我心裡想的』和『我的話所指的』綁在一起了——這正是今天 mean 同時能表『意思是』和『打算』的根源。
etymonline.com/word/mean
A second word, same spelling
mean
a, nYou can picture this mean as the middle point that sits balanced between two ends — neither extreme, but the spot in between. From that one picture come the mathematical average (the balance-point of a set of numbers) and the 'happy medium' (the balanced path between two extremes). This is a separate word from both the verb (intend) and the adjective ().
From the word’s history
This mean comes (via Old French) from Latin medianus 'in the middle', from medius 'middle' — the same family as 'median' and 'middle'. So its picture is literally the midpoint, quite separate from the verb mean (intend) and the adjective mean (unkind).
這個 mean 經由古法語源自拉丁語 medianus「居中的」，再上溯到 medius「中間」，和 median、middle 同一家族。所以它的畫面比較像字面上的『中點』，與動詞 mean（打算）、形容詞 mean（刻薄）都不同源。
etymonline.com/word/mean (and etymonline.com/word/mediant)
A second word, same spelling
mean
aYou can picture this mean as someone or something that gives too little — too little kindness, too little money, too little quality. The person, the stingy person, and the shabby thing all share that picture of stinting, of holding back what should be given freely. (The ' good' slang use is the same word turned upside down into a compliment.)
From the word’s history
This adjective comes from Old English gemæne 'common, shared by all, general' — originally 'belonging to everyone'. 'Common' slid toward 'low, inferior, of poor quality', and from there to 'shabby', 'stingy', and 'unkind'. It is a different word from the verb mean (to intend).
這個形容詞源自古英語 gemæne「公有的、大家共享的、普通的」，原意是『屬於所有人』。『普通』後來滑向『低下、次等、品質差』，再從那裡發展出『破舊』『小氣』『刻薄』。它和動詞 mean（打算、意思是）是兩個不同的字。
etymonline.com/word/mean
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料33 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
meanverb詞源 1/miːn/
- 1
To intend.
- I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
- I mean to go to Arévalo in Spain this summer; I’ve been meaning to tell you for weeks, but I’ve just found the time.
- 2
To intend.
- Don't be angry; she meant well.
- 3
regionalTo intend.
- Actually this desk was meant for the subeditor.
- Man was not meant to question such things.
- 4
To intend.
- Your reasoning seems needlessly abstruse, complex, and verbose for me. I mean, could you dumb it down for my sake?
- 5
To convey (a meaning).
- The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm?
- An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
- 6
To convey (a meaning).
- What does this hieroglyph mean?
- A term should be included if it’s likely that someone would run across it and want to know what it means.
- 7
To convey (a meaning).
- I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.
- He’s a little different, if you know what I mean.
- 8
To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
- Does she really mean what she said to him last night?
- Say what you mean and mean what you say.
另外 3 個記錄的用法
- 9
To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).
- One faltering step means certain death.
- This breakthrough will mean that we spend less on electricity bills.
- 10
To be of some level of importance.
- That little dog meant everything to me.
- Formality and titles mean nothing in their circle.
- 11
regionalTo lament.
- All the tyme of his sickness he never said, “Alace!” or meaned any pain, whilk was marvellous. Never man died in greater peace of mind or body.
- “ If you should die for me, sir knight, “ There’s few for you will mane, “ For many a better has died for me, “ Whose graves are growing green.
meanadj詞源 2/miːn/
- 1
obsoleteCommon; general.
- 2
archaicOf a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
- a man of mean parentage
- a mean abode
- 3
Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
- a mean appearance
- a mean dress
- 4
Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
- You hurt her feelings - that was a mean thing to do.
- It was mean of you to steal that little girl's piggy bank.
- 5
Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
- The Roman legions and great Caesar found / Our fathers no mean foes.
- 6
Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.
- He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
- 7
Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating.
- 8
Intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise; bearing ill will towards another.
- Watch out for her: she's mean. I said good morning to her, and she punched me in the nose.
另外 4 個記錄的用法
- 9
Powerful; fierce; strong.
- It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town.
- […]in the context of ships available at the time, they were aircraft carrier - fleet carriers. Now, granted, they may not have been the biggest and largest and meanest fleet carriers around, but they certainly were fleet carriers.
- 10
Hearty; spicy.
- We were sitting in Poetta’s candlelit kitchen waiting for some of her gut-burning chili to get done. Everybody that knows Poetta knows that she makes a mean chili that if you eat it by lunchtime, it can clean out your entire system by the end of the day.
- She wasn’t the most accomplished cook in the world but she cold make a mean stew, she knew how to roast a chicken, and she could whip up eggs at least three different ways.
- 11
Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.
- Your mother can roll a mean cigarette.
- He hits a mean backhand.
- 12
informalDifficult, tricky.
- This problem is mean!
meanadj詞源 3/miːn/
- 1
Having the mean as its value; average.
- The mean family has 2.4 children.
- In the mountain region of A-erh-t'ai Shan and Hsiang-t'ien Shan⁷, if the mean west wind velocity is five meters per second, the high tendency at 700mb on the anterior mountain slope may exceed 40 meters in 12 hours.
- 2
obsoleteMiddling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
- I have declared in the causes what harm costiveness hath done in procuring this disease; if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is […].
- being of middle age and a mean stature
meannoun詞源 3/miːn/
- 1
A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
- To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.
- You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements.
- 2
obsoleteAn intermediate step or intermediate steps.
- Verily in this treatise this hath been mine only purpose; and the mean to bring the same to effect hath been such as whereby I studied to profit wholesomely, not to please delicately.
- That it was lawful and meritorious to kill and destroy the king, and all the said hereticks. — The mean to effect it, they concluded to be, that, 1. The king, the queen, the prince, the lords spiritual and temporal, the knights and burgoses of the parliament, should be blown up with powder. 2. That the whole royal issue male should be destroyed. S. That they would lake into their custody Elizabeth and Mary the king's daughters, and proclaim the lady Elizabeth queen. 4. That they should feign a Proclamation in the name of Elizabeth, in which no mention should be made of alteration of religion, nor that they were parties to the treason, until they had raised power to perform the same; and then to proclaim, all grievances in the kingdom should be reformed.
- 3
Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
- Then will not this constitution be a kind of mean between aristocracy and oligarchy?
- as a mean, it implies certain extremes between which it lies, namely the more and the less
- 4
historicalentertainmentlifestylemusicThe middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.
- Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.
- 5
mathematicssciencesAny function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
- Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey.
- Luckily, even though the arithmetic mean is unusable, both the harmonic and geometric means settle to precise values as the amount of data increases.
- 6
mathematicssciencesstatisticsAny function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
- While the average age of the rioter was 27.8 years, the mean age of the nonrioter was 38.1.
- 7
mathematicssciencesEither of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.
- ...if four numbers be in proportion, the product of the first and last, or of the two extremes, is equal to the product of the second and third, or of the two means.
- Using the means-extremes property of proportions, you know that the product of the extremes equals the product of the means. The ratio t/4 = 5/2 can be rewritten as t:4 = 5:2, in which the extremes are t and 2, and the means are 4 and 5.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- MongoDB
- Express.js
- AngularJS
- Node.js
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。