minuscule
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- miniscule (originally a misspelling, but now so common that it has come to be considered an alternative spelling by many)
Etymology edit
From French minuscule, from Latin minuscula, feminine of minusculus (“rather less, rather small”), from minus (“less, smaller”) + -culus (diminutive suffix).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation, UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɪn.ʊˌskjuːl/, /ˈmɪn.jʊˌskjuːl/[1]
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /ˈmɪn.əˌskjul/, /mɪˈnʌsˌkjul/
Noun edit
minuscule (countable and uncountable, plural minuscules)
- (countable) A lowercase letter.
- (uncountable) Either of the two medieval handwriting styles minuscule cursive and Caroline minuscule.
- 2001, Steven Roger Fischer, History of Writing, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 254:
- By the eighth century, Irish scribes had refined everyday cursive writing in minuscule to allow its use for the production of quality vellum books.
- (countable) A letter in these styles.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
lower-case letter
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medieval handwriting style
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Adjective edit
minuscule (comparative more minuscule, superlative most minuscule)
- Written in minuscules, lowercase.
- Written in minuscule handwriting style.
- Very small; tiny.
- a minuscule dot
- 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist[1], volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
- In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.
Synonyms edit
- (written in minuscules): lower-case, small
- (very small): microscopic; minute; tiny
- See also Thesaurus:tiny
Antonyms edit
Translations edit
written in minuscules
written in minuscule handwriting style
very small, tiny
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Usage notes edit
See the usage notes at miniscule
References edit
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Borrowed from Latin minusculus.
Adjective edit
minuscule (plural minuscules)
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
minuscule f (plural minuscules)
- (typography) a minuscule, a lower case
- Antonym: majuscule
Further reading edit
- “minuscule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /miˈnus.ku.le/, [mɪˈnʊs̠kʊɫ̪ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /miˈnus.ku.le/, [miˈnuskule]
Adjective edit
minuscule
Romanian edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
minuscule