milieu

See also: Milieu

English

WOTD – 21 December 2022

Etymology

PIE word
*me

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)”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmiːljɜː/, /mɪlˈjɜː/, /-ˈju/, /-ˈjʊ/ (singular, and plural form milieux)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /mɪlˈju/, /-ˈjʊ/ (singular, and plural form milieux)
• Rhymes: -uː
• Hyphenation: mi‧lieu

Noun

milieu (plural milieux or milieus)

1. An environment or setting; a medium.
   • 1996, Tom O’Regan, “Introducing Australian Cinema”, in Australian National Cinema (National Cinemas Series), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2:

     Australian cinema is a messy affair. It is a messiness not only in our ways of knowing, reading, consuming and producing films and the larger film-making milieu of which they are a part, but also a messiness among the films themselves […]

   • 2013, Kathleen L. Mosier, “Judgment and Prediction”, in John D. Lee, Alex Kirlik, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Engineering (Oxford Library of Psychology), Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Cognition in Engineered Systems), page 70, column 1:

     In the electronic milieu, accuracy is accomplished by the technology, and the appropriate strategy for judgment is likely to entail ensuring coherence within and across electronic and naturalistic components of the ecology.

   • 2013, Brendan Ryan, “Preface”, in Optimizing Academic Library Services in the Digital Milieu: Digital Devices and Their Emerging Trends (Chandos Information Professional Series), Witney, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, Woodhead Publishing, →ISBN, page xiii:

     The library as solely a physical space will not survive in the digital milieu. Services should be directed towards user needs and desires in the current academic climate.

   • 2016, Robert S. Kawashima, “Biblical Narrative and the Birth of Prose Literature”, in Danna Nolan Fewell, editor, The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 52:

     The question is, then, what is the relationship of biblical narrative to its literary milieu? […] One must simultaneously biblical narrative in light of its clear historical connections to its literary milieu, while carefully analyzing the profound differences separating it from its milieu as well.

2. (specifically) A social environment or setting.
   • 1927 July, Percy Hughes, “The Biotic Center of Psychology”, in The Center, Function and Structure of Psychology (Lehigh University Publication; vol. 1, no. 6; Institute of Research; circular no. 9; Studies in the Humanities; no. 3), Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University, →OCLC, page 13:

     The distinction between the constituents in, and the conditions of, the integral life-career of person is well brought out in contrasting the attitudes of attention which persons normally develop with the milieux or social media which serve as the theater for their exercise. […] The assertive attitude of challenge finds its milieux in the domains of sport, art, exercise, industry, etc., to which the conception of gestalt may well be extended.

     Reprinted from The Journal of Philosophy, volume XXIV, number 4.

   • 1992, William A[rbuckle] Reid, “The Commonplace of the Milieus”, in Arthur Woodward, Ian Westbury, editors, The Pursuit of Curriculum: Schooling and the Public Interest (Issues in Curriculum Theory, Policy, and Research), Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 132:

     Confronted by the multiplicity of the milieus that could influence curriculum activity, we need some way of deciding not only what kinds of milieus should claim our attention, but also what kinds of knowledge about them we should attend to.

   • 1995, J[ames] T. Dillon, “Circumstance of Teaching”, in Jesus as a Teacher: A Multidisciplinary Case Study, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock Publishers, published 20 June 2005, →ISBN, page 28:

     The unmistakable directness and violence of Jesus' action shows it to have been undertaken and executed precisely as if the milieu were indeed not there to be counted. Here again is the character of action taken in the very face of the milieu without taking any notice of it. In any event, the one certainty is that the Roman milieu, so entirely ignored by his teaching, here came conclusively to touch upon it, putting Jesus to an end.

   • 1999, Sami Zubaida, “Cosmopolitanism and the Middle East”, in Roel Meijer, editor, Cosmopolitanism, Identity and Authenticity in the Middle East, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2013, →ISBN, part I (Cosmopolitanism in the Middle East), page 16:

     Certain milieus are described as cosmopolitan. Typically these are artistic, intellectual and bohemian milieus, but also the world of international business and high finance, and some mafias and underworlds.

   • 2018, John [Neal] Stewart, “Special Strategies and Considerations for Milieu-based Attachment-focused Treatment”, in Attachment-Based Milieus for Healing Child and Adolescent Developmental Trauma: A Relational Approach for Use in Settings from Inpatient Psychiatry to Special Education Classrooms, London, Philadelphia, Pa.: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, section II (Supporting Healing Attachments in the Treatment Milieu), page 199:

     The vast majority of our intensive child and adolescent treatment milieus operate within an adult-centric model, wherein staff play the central role in developing, instilling and enforcing the culture; a model that places virtually all power and authority in the hands of the supervising adults.

   • 2019 May 5 (online), Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, London: Routledge, published 2020, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 567–580:

     [F]rom the perspective of traditional linguistic landscapes thought, such an overwhelmingly English landscape would normally be considered to exert a negative effect on the vitality and feelings of worth of other languages within this specific multilingual milieu.

3. A group of people with a common point of view; a social class or group.
   • 1954, Iris Murdoch, chapter 2, in Under the Net […], London: The Reprint Society, published 1955, →OCLC, page 35:

     It's not easy to find someone whom one has mislaid for years in London, particularly if she belongs to the sort of milieu that Anna belonged to, but clearly the first thing to do is look in the telephone book.

Derived terms

• micromilieu
• milieu control
• milieu therapy

 

Translations

environment or setting — see medium

social setting

• Bulgarian: околна среда (okolna sreda)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 社會環境／社会环境 (zh) (shèhuì huánjìng)

• Danish: miljø n
• Dutch: milieu (nl) n
• Esperanto: socia medio
• Estonian: miljöö
• Finnish: lähiympäristö (fi), miljöö (fi), ympäristö (fi)
• French: milieu (fr) m
• German: Milieu (de) n
• Greek: περιβάλλον (el) n (perivállon)
• Hungarian: miliő (hu)
• Indonesian: milieu (id), lingkungan hidup (id)
• Irish: timpeallacht f
• Malay: milieu
• Norwegian: miljø (no) n
• Polish: otoczenie (pl) n, środowisko (pl) n
• Portuguese: milieu (pt) m, meio social m
• Romanian: mijloc (ro) n
• Russian: среда́ (ru) f (sredá)
• Spanish: entorno (es) m
• Swedish: miljö (sv) c
• Ukrainian: середовище (uk) n (seredovyšče)

group of people with a common point of view — see also social class

• Finnish: luokka (fi)
• Swedish: cirkel (sv) c, miljö (sv) c

Further reading

• social environment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

– Sometimes misspelled millieu, mileu, milleu, mileau, milleau.

Dutch

FWOTD – 28 January 2013

Etymology

Borrowed from French milieu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪlˈjøː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mi‧li‧eu
• Rhymes: -øː

Noun

milieu n (plural milieus, diminutive milieutje n)

1. environment
   • 2006, Hilde Greefs, Water Management, Communities, and Environment: The Low Countries in Comparative Perspective, C. 1000 - C. 1800, Academia Press, page 195:

     Maar turfwinning had een onbedoeld gevolg voor het milieu: bodemdaling en -erosie waardoor het waterbeheer een problematisch karakter kreeg.

     But peat extraction had an unintended consequence for the environment: sinking and erosion of the soil which made water management problematic in character.

2. milieu

   Mallet-Stevens stamde uit een gegoed milieu. ― Mallet-Stevens came from a well-off family.

Derived terms

• milieuactivisme
• milieuactivist
• milieubelastend
• milieubelasting
• milieubescherming
• milieubeweging
• milieubewust
• milieuheffing
• milieuonvriendelijk
• milieupartij
• milieupolitiek
• milieuramp
• milieustraat
• milieutaks
• milieuverontreiniging
• milieuvoordeel
• milieuvriendelijk
• milieuzone

 

Descendants

• → Indonesian: milieu

French

Etymology

PIE word
*me

Inherited from Middle French milieu, meilleu, mileu, from Old French milliu, meillieu, mileu, from mi- (prefix meaning ‘half’) + (from Latin medius (“half; middle”)) + lieu, leu (“place”) (from Latin locus (“place; spot (specific location)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.ljø/

• Audio; “au milieu de”:

  (file)

Noun

milieu m (plural milieux)

1. middle; center
2. setting; environment; surroundings
3. social circle; milieu
4. middle ground

Derived terms

• au beau milieu de
• au milieu
• Empire du Milieu
• juste milieu
• milieu de terrain
• se voir comme le nez au milieu de la figure

 

Descendants

• → Danish: miljø
• → Dutch: milieu
• → English: milieu
• → German: Milieu
• → Norwegian Bokmål: miljø
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: miljø
• → Portuguese: milieu
• → Swedish: miljö

Further reading

• “milieu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch milieu, from French milieu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [miˈli.əu̯]
• Hyphenation: mi‧li‧êu

Noun

miliêu (first-person possessive milieuku, second-person possessive milieumu, third-person possessive milieunya)

1. milieu, environment.

   Synonym: lingkungan

Further reading

• “milieu” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French milieu.

Noun

milieu m (plural milieus)

1. milieu (a person’s social setting or environment)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French milieu.

Noun

milieu n (plural milieuri)

1. social origin
2. ornamental object made out of lace

Declension

	singular			plural
	+ indefinite article	+ definite article		+ indefinite article	+ definite article
nominative/accusative	(un) milieu	milieul		(niște) milieuri	milieurile
genitive/dative	(unui) milieu	milieului		(unor) milieuri	milieurilor
vocative	milieule			milieurilor