| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
|
8. Word Formation: Plurals, Possessives, Affixes, and Compounds
|
| § 31. mid- |
| The prefix mid-, which means “middle,” combines primarily with nouns to form compounds, most of which represent a time (midmorning, midsummer, midyear) or place (midbrain, midstream, midtown). When mid- is affixed to a word beginning with a capital letter, it is always necessary to use a hyphen: mid-November, mid-Atlantic states. The prefix mid- can be traced back to the Old English adjective midd, meaning “middle.” | 1 |
|
|
|
| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
