20091021Word of the Day

junli

milieu

\meel-YUH; meel-YOO\ , noun:
1.Environment; setting.
名词 n.
1.【法】周围环境(尤指社会及文化方面);出身背景

Quotes:
These were agricultural areas, populated with prosperous farming families and rural artisans -- a completely different milieu from the Monferrands', which was more closed, more cultured, but less affluent.
~Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana, Truffaut
Half a century later, Zacarías still remembers . . . how they all played together without distinctions or hierarchy, and how easily Ernesto related to people from different social and cultural milieux.
~Jorge G. Castaneda, Compañero
They write about their milieux, about where they live and work, and it can be fabulous.
~Leslie Schenk, "Celebrating Mavis Gallant", World Literature Today, Winter 1998

Origin:
Milieu is from French, from Old French, from mi, "middle" (from Latin medius) + lieu, "place" (from Latin