middling (adj.)

"medium in rank, condition, or degree; intermediate," 1540s, from Middle English medlinge "intermediate between two things" (late 14c.), from middle (adj.) + present-participle suffix -ing (2). Used in trade to designate the second of three grades of goods. Hence "only medium, neither good nor bad" (1650s). As an adverb, "tolerably, passably," by 1719.