Middle English

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noun

the English language of the period c1150–c1475. Abbreviations: ME, M.E.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of Middle English

First recorded in 1830–40

Words nearby Middle English

middle ear, Middle East, Middle Eastern, middle eight, Middle England, Middle English, middle finger, Middle Flemish, Middle French, middle game, Middle Greek

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Middle English in a sentence

Their flight had nothing to do with who I really was—an über-nerd with a taste for Middle English and Old French.
Punk: Chaos to Couture at the Costume Institute Shows How Derivative the Style Has Become|Blake Gopnik|May 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
We can see this taking place, to a limited extent, in the transcripts of Middle English poems.
Beowulf|R. W. Chambers
At the very beginning of the history of Middle English literature Orm attacked the problem of the verse translation very directly.
Early Theories of Translation|Flora Ross Amos
Of explicit comment on general principles, then, there is but a small amount in connection with Middle English translations.
Early Theories of Translation|Flora Ross Amos

In the same way the word high had in Middle English the superlative hexte.
An English Grammar|W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
In Middle English the became an article, and that remained a demonstrative adjective.
An English Grammar|W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell

British Dictionary definitions for Middle English

Middle English

noun

the English language from about 1100 to about 1450: main dialects are Kentish, Southwestern (West Saxon), East Midland (which replaced West Saxon as the chief literary form and developed into Modern English), West Midland, and Northern (from which the Scots of Lowland Scotland and other modern dialects developed)Abbreviation: ME Compare Old English, Modern English

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Middle English

Middle English

The English language from about 1150 to about 1500. During this time, following the Norman Conquest of England, the native language of England — Old English — borrowed great numbers of words from the Norman French of the conquerors. Middle English eventually developed into modern English.

notes for Middle English

Many of the writings in Middle English that have survived have word forms very different from those in modern English; today's readers of English cannot understand the language of these works without training. Some dialects of Middle English, however, resemble modern English, and a good reader of today can catch the drift of something written in them. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in one of these dialects.