Meanest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Being the most unpleasant or unkind in behavior or attitude ; having the smallest amount or degree of something
2. Exhibiting the greatest level of nastiness or cruelty ; referring to the least size, quantity, or intensity
3. Describes the lowest level of kindness or generosity ; denotes the minimal extent or amount present

Etymology: The superlative "meanest" belongs to "mean," which has two unrelated roots that happen to have landed on the same spelling. One strand comes from Old English "mǣnan," meaning "to intend, signify," and later "to complain." Its cousins in German, Dutch and Frisian ("meinen," "menen") still mean "to think" or "to mean," so the sense of intention is the older one. The other strand descends from Old English "mǣne" and "gemǣne," meaning "common, general, shared," a root that also gave Latin "communis" and English "common." Sharing a meaning of "common" gradually slid toward "ordinary," then "inferior," and eventually "stingy." The sense of miserliness and nastiness is the one that dominates the superlative. The earlier "common" sense explains why the German "gemein" can mean both "common" and "nasty," following the same path. Dutch "gemeen" shows the same drift. A third strand, borrowed from Old French "meien" and ultimately from Latin "medius" ("middle"), gave English the sense of being halfway between extremes, and is a cousin of "mid."

Synonyms: stingiest, most unkind, most malicious

Antonyms: kindest, most generous, nicest