medial

American  

[mee-dee-uhl] / ˈmi di əl /

adjective

1. situated in or pertaining to the middle; median; intermediate.

2. pertaining to a mean or average; average.

3. ordinary.

4. Phonetics. within a word or syllable; neither initial nor final, as the t, a, and n in stand.

5. Entomology. pertaining to, involving, or situated near the media.

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noun

1. Phonetics.

   1. a medial sound or letter.

   2. media.

medial British  

/ ˈmiːdɪəl /

adjective

1. of or situated in the middle

2. ordinary or average in size

3. maths relating to an average

4. another word for median median median

5. zoology of or relating to a media

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noun

1. phonetics a speech sound between being fortis and lenis; media

Other Word Forms

• medially
  adverb
• postmedial
  adjective
• submedial
  adjective
• submedially
  adverb
• supermedial
  adjective
• supermedially
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of medial

First recorded in 1560–70, medial is from the Late Latin word mediālis middle. See medium, -al ¹

Example Sentences

The study, titled "Personalised gait retraining for medial compartment knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled trial," was published in The Lancet Rheumatology.

From Science Daily • May 22, 2026

The study focused on people with mild to moderate osteoarthritis in the medial compartment of the knee, which is the inner side of the joint.

From Science Daily • May 22, 2026

James, who suffered a sprained medial collageral ligament in the Lakers’ final game of the first round, has a $52-million player option for next season.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025

They would identify the smell of bananas, garlic, licorice, fish and so on, while the researchers took recordings of the activity of individual neurons in their piriform cortex and medial temporal lobe.

From Salon • Feb. 15, 2025

On the other hand, the language has increased the number of its characters, by distinguishing initial from medial and terminal letters, having retained only thirteen originally distinct characters in its alphabet.

From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 102, October 11, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various