• mien •
Pronunciation: meen • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. Demeanor, bearing, manner, reflective of the state of mind, mood, character, attitude. 2. Appearance, aspect, impression.
Notes: Today's Good Word follows the old elementary school rule, "I before E except after C." However, this spelling is particularly un-English, so the word has remained mostly a lexical orphan. Miened has been used in compounds like majestic-miened and mandarin-miened.
In Play: Mien refers only to bearings that suggest something about the inner workings of people: "Harvey Milquetoast has a wistful, fragile, almost feminine mien in his gestures and other movements." Again: "His brother Hawkshaw, on the other hand, strides about with a soldier's mien that betrays his erstwhile occupation."
Word History: Today's Good Word is of misty origin, probably an aphetic form of Middle English demeinen "to handle, conduct", borrowed from Old French demener "to guide, conduct". This word is composed of de- "(down) from, concerning" + mener "to lead, direct". Mener is the French version of Latin minari "to threaten, drive (animals)". The latter was derived from PIE men-/mon- "to project, stand out", the remains of which we also see in Breton menez "mountain", Cornish meneth "mountain", Irish múin "top", Welsh mynydd "mountain", and Latin mon(t)s "mountain", mentum "chin", and eminere "to stand out". (Now yet another word of thanks to Wordmaster Rob Towart for seeing the worth in today's Good Word and sharing it with us.)
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