medial
medial Lexical Profile
medial Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Situated in or toward the middle; specifically, in anatomy, located closer to the midline or median plane of the body or an organ.
"The physical therapist examined the athlete's knee for signs of a medial collateral ligament sprain."
In linguistics and typography, occurring in the middle of a word, syllable, or Morpheme, rather than at the beginning or end.
"In several dialects of English, a medial /t/ sound between two vowels is pronounced as an alveolar flap."
• noun
A speech sound, letter, or character that occurs in the middle of a word, or the specific form of a letter used in that position (as in Arabic or Greek script).
"Students learning the Arabic alphabet must practice how each letter connects when written as an initial, a medial, or a final."
Word Nuance & Usage
In anatomy, 'medial' specifically means situated closer to the vertical midline of the body (as opposed to 'lateral'), whereas 'median' refers to a structure located directly on the midline itself.
• Rhymes for medial
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 16th century from Late Latin medialis ('of the middle'), from Latin medius ('middle').