mediocris

Latin

Etymology

From medius and maybe ocris (“rugged mountain”), as if "halfway up".

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /meˈdi.o.kris/, [mɛˈd̪iɔkrɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /meˈdi.o.kris/, [meˈd̪iːokris]

Adjective

mediocris (neuter mediocre, comparative mediocrior, superlative medioximus, adverb mediocriter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. middling, moderate, medium
2. tolerable, ordinary, normal
3. mediocre, indifferent

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	mediocris	mediocre		mediocrēs	mediocria
genitive	mediocris			mediocrium
dative	mediocrī			mediocribus
accusative	mediocrem	mediocre		mediocrēs mediocrīs	mediocria
ablative	mediocrī			mediocribus
vocative	mediocris	mediocre		mediocrēs	mediocria

Derived terms

• mediocriculus
• mediocritās
• mediocriter

Related terms

• medioximus

Descendants

• → Catalan: mediocre
• → French: médiocre
• → English: mediocre
• → Italian: mediocre
• → Portuguese: medíocre
• → Romanian: mediocru
• → Spanish: mediocre

References

• “mediocris”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mediocris”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mediocris in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• mediocris in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to adopt half-measures: mediocribus consiliis uti
    
  • a deep, high, thin, moderate voice: vox gravis, acuta, parva, mediocris