Etymology

meantime

M3E1A1N1T1I1M3E1

Today it means: The time spent waiting for another event; time in between. Full definition →

Middle English menetime
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited frommenetime
  2. English todaymeantime

From Middle English menetime, equivalent to mean + time. Adverb is by ellipsis from in the meantime.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.