milieu
UK /ˈmiːljɜː/ · US /mɪlˈju/ noun
Forms milieux milieus
- noun An environment or setting; a medium; environs
- noun (specifically) A social environment or setting.
- noun A group of people with a common point of view; a social class or group.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French milieu (“physical or social environment; group of people with a common point of view”), from Middle French milieu, meilleu, mileu, from Old French milliu, meillieu, mileu (“middle”), from mi- (prefix meaning ‘half’) (from Latin medius (“half; middle”)) + lieu, leu (“place”) (from Latin locus (“place; spot (specific location)”)).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Environment.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “milieu”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details