Mien

A person's appearance or manner, especially as an indication of their character or mood.

"Oh look he's aura farming again with that mien.."

Middle English: mene / myne (late 15th–early 16th c.) meaning look, expression, bearing

Borrowed from: Old French mine “appearance, look, expression, facial expression”

From: Vulgar Latin mina “projection, threat, look, expression”

Ultimately from: Latin verb minari “to threaten, project, jut out”

Semantic development

Latin minari → “to threaten, project outward”→ Vulgar Latin mina → “projecting look / threatening expression”→ Old French mine → “facial expression, appearance”→ English mien → “bearing, manner, air, facial expression”

“demean”

The resemblance to demean is not etymological.It’s a later folk association caused by the now-obsolete sense of demean meaning “to conduct oneself / behave.” That sense comes from de + mean (to manage, conduct) and is unrelated to mien.

Early 16th century: from Middle English mene, borrowed from Old French mine “appearance, expression,” from Vulgar Latin mina “projecting or threatening look,” from Latin minari “to threaten.” The similarity to demean is a later folk association and not etymologically related.

Record of use: 1510s

Origin: A merging of two distinct sources: (i) shortened from Middle English demean "bearing, demeanor," and (ii) borrowed from Middle French mine "countenance, facial expression" (13th century in Old French in the phrase faire mines "to grimace, make faces"), later meaning "appearance, manner, air" (late 15th century)

French source etymology: French mine probably derives from Breton min "muzzle," which is cognate with Welsh min "lip, mouth, brim," Cornish min "lip, mouth," and Early Irish mén "opening of the mouth, open mouth"

Possible ultimate root: The Celtic forms may be related to the Indo-European base of maw

Spelling note: The English word was spelled with -ie- to distinguish it from "mean."

Spread to other languages: The French word influenced Middle Dutch mine, Middle Low German mīne, German Miene (18th century), Swedish min (17th century), and Danish mine, all ultimately from French, with transmission into Scandinavian languages probably via Low German

This etymology shows that "mien" is more complex than a simple borrowing from French—it represents a confluence of French and native English elements, with the French term itself having Celtic origins.