mean [OE] The word mean means many things in English. The ancient root of Old English mean ‘to intend to convey’ is related to *mind. The original meaning of mean ‘not generous, small-minded’ [ME] was ‘common to two or more people’, reflecting its ancient root, shared with Latin communis ‘common’ (see commonplace). Modern uses developed from ‘low on the social scale’ through ‘inferior’, while a complete reversal comes in the informal sense ‘excellent’, dating from the early 20th century. Use as a term of approval has a precursor in expressions involving a negative, no mean …: in the Bible St Paul declared ‘I am … a Jew of Tarsus … a citizen of no mean city.’ The mathematical use of mean, ‘an average’ [ME], goes back to Latin medianus ‘middle’, source also of median [LME]. This is the mean [LME] behind means ‘a method’, as in a means to an end [M17th], a thing that is not valued or important in itself but is useful in achieving an aim.