Prefix · middle / central point
Signals the central point or middle of something: midnight, midday, midterm, mid-air.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
Mid- signals the central point or halfway point of a time period, space, or process: midnight = the middle of the night; midterm = halfway through the semester; midfield = the central zone of the playing field; midsize = medium-sized. It is the prefix of whatever sits at the exact center.
Mid- is frequently used with time periods: mid-January = around the middle of January; mid-career = halfway through a professional career; mid-sentence = halfway through a sentence; mid-morning = around the middle of the morning. In these contexts it usually takes a hyphen when attached to a time noun.
Attaches to time, space, or process nouns. Takes a hyphen when the root starts with a vowel or is a compound word:
Pronunciation: /mɪd/, with a short "i" as in "sit." The hyphen rule is not absolute: "midday" and "mid-day" are both accepted.
mid-/mɪd/
Tap the button to hear how the prefix sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
"Midnight" is precisely 12:00 at night. "Late at night" describes vaguely the hours between midnight and dawn. "In the middle of the night" covers the broadly dark hours in a more casual way.
"A mid-air collision" = crash between two planes while flying. "He caught the ball in mid-air" = caught it before it hit the ground. Mid-air describes the space between the sky and the surface.
A trick to remember it
Mid- = "medio-" in Spanish: midnight = medianoche, midday = mediodía, midterm = a mitad del semestre. Any time you need to say "halfway through something," try mid- in front: mid-January, mid-career, mid-sentence.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"The two planes came dangerously close to a ___ collision before air traffic control stepped in."
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
What does "midterm" mean in an academic context?
The prefix mid- signals the central point or middle of something: midnight, midday, midterm, mid-air. In Spanish it usually maps to medio- / central.
The prefix mid- is pronounced /mɪd/. For example, "midnight".
"night" becomes "midnight". It is a typical example of the mid- prefix.
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