Word of the Week #5

mien \MEEN\, noun:
Aspect; air; manner; demeanor; carriage; bearing.

An elderly lawyer, with a dignified and imposing mien... drew near.
--Charles W. Chesnutt, Paul Marchand, F.M.C.

He raised and answered the question with the dispassionate mien of a professor advising a student on a course of study.
--Edith Anderson, Love in Exile: An American Writer's Memoir of Life in Divided Berlin

Amy soon learned to cloak her self-assurance and pride in her achievements in a modest mien.
--Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach. Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer 1867-1944

He was a Vietnam veteran with a haunted mien.
--James Traub

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Mien probably derives from Medieval French mine, facial expression, from Breton min, beak, muzzle, hence a person's face.