mien

[meen]

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noun

air, bearing, or demeanor, as showing character, feeling, etc.: a man of noble mien.

Origin of mien

1505–15; probably aphetic variant of obsolete demean bearing, demean²; spelled with -ie- to distinguish it from mean²

Can be confusedmean mien

Synonyms for mien

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appearance, look; carriage.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for mien

demeanor, countenance, bearing, style, set, look, image, act, appearance, mannerism, air, port, deportment, aura, aspect, address, front, expression, carriage

Examples from the Web for mien

Contemporary Examples of mien

As if instead of reading lullabies, Palestinians read their kids Mien Kempf.
No, Most Palestinians Aren't Anti-Semites
Maysoon Zayid
May 9, 2013

Historical Examples of mien

He desisted at last and looked back at us with a mien of anger.
The Bacillus of Beauty
Harriet Stark
Kirkwood turned to meet her onslaught with a mien grave, determined, unflinching.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
He was a good stout knight, but sorrowful of face and downcast of mien.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle
And yet he stood in awe of that Virgin, so like a princess in her mien.
Abbe Mouret's Transgression
Emile Zola
Like the spectators at the time, we cannot pity Socrates; his mien and his language are so noble and fearless.
Phaedo
Plato

British Dictionary definitions for mien

mien

noun

literary a person's manner, bearing, or appearance, expressing personality or mooda noble mien

Word Origin for mien

C16: probably variant of obsolete demean appearance; related to French mine aspect

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

Word Origin and History for mien

"facial expression," 1510s, probably a shortening of Middle English demean "bearing, demeanor" (see demeanor) and influenced by Middle French mine "appearance, facial expression," which is of unknown origin, possibly Celtic (cf. Breton min "beak, muzzle, nose," Irish men "mouth").