"fermented honey drink," Old English medu, from Proto-Germanic *meduz (cognates: Old Norse mjöðr, Danish mjød, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch mede, Old High German metu, German Met "mead"), from PIE root *medhu- "honey, sweet drink" (cognates: Sanskrit madhu "sweet, sweet drink, wine, honey," Greek methy "wine," Old Church Slavonic medu, Lithuanian medus "honey," Old Irish mid, Welsh medd, Breton mez "mead"). Synonymous but unrelated early Middle English meþeglin yielded Chaucer's meeth.

"meadow," Old English mæd, Anglian med "meadow, pasture," from Proto-Germanic *medwo (cognates: Old Frisian mede, Dutch made, German Matte "meadow," Old English mæþ "harvest, crop"), from PIE *metwa- "a mown field," from root *me- (4) "mow, cut down grass or grain" (see mow, v.). Now only archaic or poetic.