Wednesday, June 8, 2011

mien



mien [min] n.

1.) The air, bearing, carriage or manner of a person, as expressive of character or mood (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Ed.).

Etymology: Alteration (influenced by French mine, appearance) of Middle English demeine, demeanor, from Old French demener, to behave.

"Folly, vice,
Extravagance in gesture, mien, and dress,
And all the strife of singularity,
Lies to the ear, and lies to every sense—
Of these, and of the living shapes they wear,
There is no end." (The Prelude, William Wordsworth, 1850).

(Portrait of William Wordsworth, Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1842)

34 comments:

Unknown said...

Good old Wordsworth. I don't get to read a lot of him at present. There is something about rediscovering new old words that makes me smile. Thanks.

Astronomy Pirate said...

I hope to not carry to oppressive of a mien.

Solsby Kid said...

Cool word :D

Mike said...

This is interesting.

Dejch said...

dont know if i ever use it

Angela said...

I like that you put the audio for this because I've been pronouncing it wrong.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Be sure not to walk around with a mean mien, eh?

Speedy Ed said...

oo , very interesting.. dunno where I would be without this blog teaching me new words everyday ! :D

Dave said...

A strange word mien. In German its my. Strange to see it used in this context.

Zombie said...

poor william, he has no hair! :p

Fang said...

He looks kind of disappointed. ):

Garret said...

You make me realize my vocabulary is way too limited :(

shari said...

People have told me that I have a light-hearted mien. Did I use it right? It seems weird. I read it often, and knew what it meant, but have never used it in a sentence myself. I'll try it out this week sometime.... :-) Hope I don't botch it up!

Mercurio said...

I don't think I can use that word propperly.

Kristina P. said...

I've never heard this word before. I will definitely try to use it today, while making my coworker feel dumb.

T. Banacek said...

This is a new one for me.

Sick by Trend said...

back to home? how was your trip :D
xx

www.sickbytrend.com

Anonymous said...

Mien... new word for me too

-E- said...

@Dave i think you're thinking of "mein", which is unrelated.

DEZMOND said...

I love the sound of this new word, E!

Biff Tanner said...

This post is both intriguing and fascinating, keep up the great work.

//Cheer§

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That one I have used before!

Malkavian said...

Cool, dont know how to use it correctly still i shall find a use for it.

Blk Jesus said...

nice to know

the Tsaritsa said...

Love the Romantics and love Wordsworth. Thanks for stopping by my blog today :)

Kicking Rocks said...

i like this word!

Lydia Kang said...

I read this word all the time but don't use it much. Great post!

ed said...

never heard it used in real life

Anonymous said...

hey, you commented on my blog, "the philosophy of collective fucked-upness" well, it should be three syllables, but i couldent think of a better word, and give me some credit... i thought of that in 5 miniuts, and im only 16, i feel that my poems are generally well put.

HiFi said...

Now that is an obscure word!

Z said...

Our office has nasty mien!

Intraman said...

thanks, i had never heard of that word before.

Patti D. said...

Very nice and interesting

You can visit my blog here.

Kait Lisbeth said...

Interesting! M-e-i-n is a male possesive term in German :)

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