mediant

American  

[mee-dee-uhnt] / ˈmi di ənt /

noun

1. the third degree of a major or minor musical scale.

---

mediant British  

/ ˈmiːdɪənt /

noun

1. music

   1. the third degree of a major or minor scale

   2. ( as modifier )

      a mediant chord

---

Etymology

Origin of mediant

1720–30; < Italian mediante < Late Latin mediant- (stem of mediāns ), present participle of mediāre to be in the middle. See medium, -ant

Example Sentences

The exposition ends with some dreamy, pianissimo reminiscences of the closing theme in the mediant keys of F, D and B major, delicately scored for the wood-wind instruments and horns.

From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond

Beginning, however, with Beethoven great emphasis has been laid on mediant relationship, e.g.,

From Music: An Art and a Language by Spalding, Walter Raymond

Now, the twelfth reversed is nothing but the fifth or dominant, and the seventeenth becomes, by a double reversion, the third or mediant of the tonic.

From Delsarte System of Oratory by Various

But a mediant view is found in Kulhwych, where it is said of him that he restrains the demons of hell lest they should destroy the people of this world.

From The Religion of the Ancient Celts by MacCulloch, J. A.

Putting, pound, potassium, pot, porter; initial p, mediant t - that was his idea, poor little boy!

From Across the Plains by Stevenson, Robert Louis