Plural of “medium”

The plural of medium is media (some dictionaries also accept mediums).

Why

"Medium" comes from Latin "medius" (middle), and its classical plural follows the Latin neuter -um/-a pattern, giving "media" — the same pattern behind "datum/data" and "bacterium/bacteria." English also developed a fully regularized plural, "mediums," for one specific sense of the word.

The two plurals have split cleanly by meaning: "media" refers to communication channels collectively (television, print, radio, the internet — as in "the media reported on the story"), while "mediums" refers to people claiming to communicate with the dead, or to intermediate sizes and artistic materials ("she works in several different mediums"), a genuine semantic split rather than free variation between two equally valid options for the same meaning. The word's broad range of technical senses beyond communication and psychic contact is worth noting too — in biology, a "growth medium" describes the substance (agar, broth) in which microorganisms are cultured, and in that specific scientific sense, "media" is again the standard plural, following the same Latin pattern used for communication channels rather than the separate "mediums" reserved for artistic materials and psychics. This three-way semantic split (communication, artistic material or psychic person, and scientific culture substance) is unusually wide for a single English noun to carry while still maintaining a mostly consistent plural pattern across two of its three senses.

Usage note

"Media" itself has undergone the same kind of singular reanalysis as "data": many speakers now treat "the media" as a singular collective noun ("the media is obsessed with this story") rather than as a true plural ("the media are obsessed"), and this shift is far more advanced and broadly accepted in everyday and journalistic English than the parallel shift with "data."

"Multimedia," a compound built directly on "medium," doesn't pluralize at all in ordinary use — it functions as an uncountable adjective or mass noun ("a multimedia presentation"), having drifted entirely away from the countable-noun behavior of its root word once it became fixed as a single descriptive term in technology and education vocabulary. Broadcast journalism programs and communications degree programs almost universally teach "the media" as a singular collective noun in student style guides today, reflecting how thoroughly that specific usage has become the professional default even as some older style authorities continue to prefer strict plural agreement.

Common real mistakes

Using "medias" as a plural of "media" is a genuine and fairly common error, treating an already-plural Latin form as if it needed a second English plural marker layered on top — the correct plural of "medium" in the communications sense is simply "media," with no further -s added. A further, less obvious error: some writers mistakenly assume "mediums" is simply wrong in every context because "media" is more familiar, when in fact "mediums" is the fully correct and expected plural for both artistic materials and self-described psychics.

The wider pattern

The same Latin -um/-a pattern behind "medium/media" also governs "datum/data," "bacterium/bacteria," and "curriculum/curricula," though "medium" is unusual among that group for having developed a second, fully regularized plural tied to a distinct branch of its meaning.

Examples

• Social media has changed how political campaigns communicate.
• The artist works confidently across several different mediums.
• Local media covered the story for nearly a week.
• Three self-proclaimed mediums claimed to contact the same spirit.
• The company advertises across print, digital, and broadcast media.
• Watercolor is her preferred medium for landscape painting.
• National media outlets picked up the local story overnight.
• The gallery displayed work in mixed mediums, from oil to collage.
• Streaming media now dominates household entertainment consumption.
• The psychic claimed to be a medium for departed relatives.
• The lab prepared fresh growth media for the bacterial culture experiment.
• International media descended on the small town after the story broke.
• The exhibit showcased sculptures made from unusual and unexpected mediums.