medial

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   situated in or toward the middle, especially nearer the midline of the body

   The additional mammary gland was medial and lay just above the navel.

2. 2
   adj

   linguistics: occurring in the middle of a word or other linguistic unit

   The medial consonant distinguishes the longer word from its shorter root.

Borrowed from Latin medialis, 'middle,' from medius, 'in the middle,' + the adjectival suffix -alis. Anatomical medial describes a position toward the body's midline and contrasts with lateral.

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