mediocre (adj.)

1580s, "of moderate degree or quality, neither good nor bad," from Middle French médiocre (16c.), from Latin mediocris "of middling height or state, moderate, ordinary," figuratively "mediocre, mean, inferior," literally "halfway up a mountain," from medius "middle" (from PIE root *medhyo- "middle") + ocris "jagged mountain" (cognate with Greek okris "peak, point," Welsh ochr "corner, border," Latin acer "sharp;" from PIE root *ak- "be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce"). As a noun, "mediocre thing or person," by 1834.