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Mien is a somewhat literary term that refers to a person’s appearance and behavior toward others—that is, their outward manner or demeanor. Mien and demeanor are also linked through etymology: mien arose in the early 1500s through the shortening and alteration of the rare verb demean, meaning "to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner." The source of demean is a Middle English word meaning (among other things) "to behave in a certain way; to conduct oneself"; that word’s Anglo-French source, demener, could mean (also among other things) "to lead," "to strive," "to guide," and "to behave." Note that the "behave" demean related to demeanor and mien is not related to the more common demean that means "to debase"; that word has its roots in an Old English word meaning "common, shared."
Examples of mien in a Sentence
Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2025
Jaron was tall and thin, with conjoined eyebrows, his usual mien the dazed air of someone just getting off a long flight.
—Annie Proulx, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025
Here, portrayed by a wonderfully demented Nicholas Hoult, Luthor contains unmistakable echoes of figures like Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, men whose bearing or mien don’t quite sit within the same reality as the rest of us and are consequently bent on bending that reality to their image.
—Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 8 Aug. 2025
Though Miró was well known for his quiet, modest mien, Lelong saw in the artist a passion and a delight in the nuances of life that mirrored his own perennially positive outlook.
—News Desk, Artforum, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for mien
Cite this Entry
“Mien.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mien. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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mien
noun
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