mica
English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/MicaSheetUSGOV.jpg/220px-MicaSheetUSGOV.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Latin mīca (“grain, crumb”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]mica (countable and uncountable, plural micas)
- (mineralogy) Any of a group of hydrous aluminosilicate minerals characterized by highly perfect cleavage, so that they readily separate into very thin leaves, more or less elastic.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 214:
- His little eyes glittered like mica discs with curiosity, though he tried to keep up a bit of superciliousness.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
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See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Aragonese
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA: /'mi.ka/
Etymology 1
[edit]Vulgar Latin *mīcca, from Latin mīca (“crumb”) with expression gemination of /k/. Compare Occitan mica and Catalan mica.
Noun
[edit]mica f
- a bit, a small piece
Adverb
[edit]mica
- a bit, few
- (in negative phrases) at all
- No me fa mica goi. ― I don't like it at all.
- any
- No gastes mica d’aceite ― Don't use any oil
- No queda mica de sal. ― There isn't any salt left.
Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]mica f
Catalan
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Inherited from Old Catalan mica, from Vulgar Latin *mīcca, from Latin mīca (“crumb”) with expression gemination of /k/. Compare Occitan mica and Aragonese mica.
Noun
[edit]mica f (plural miques)
- a bit, a small piece
Derived terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]mica f (plural miques)
References
[edit]- “mica” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “mica”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “mica” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “mica” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Dutch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file) - Hyphenation: mi‧ca
Noun
[edit]mica n (plural mica's)
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Latin mīca. Doublet of mie and miche.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Noun
[edit]mica f (plural micas)
Further reading
[edit]- “mica”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Galician
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Learned borrowing from Latin mīca.
Noun
[edit]mica f (uncountable)
Italian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Latin mīca, from Proto-Italic *smīkā, from Proto-Indo-European *smeyg- (“small, thin, delicate”).
Noun
[edit]mica f (plural miche)
Related terms
[edit]Adverb
[edit]mica
- (colloquial) not
- Mica male! ― Not bad!
- (colloquial) hardly, you know
- Mica sono stupido
- I’m hardly stupid; I’m not stupid, you know
- (colloquial) bit
- Non è mica cambiato ― It hasn't changed one bit
- (colloquial) at all
- Non costa mica molto ― It is not at all expensive
- (colloquial) by any chance
- Non hai mica trovato il mio portafoglio?
- Have you seen my wallet by any chance?
Etymology 2
[edit]Borrowed from Latin mīca, the same source as the above.
Noun
[edit]mica f (plural miche)
- (mineralogy) mica (mineral)
Anagrams
[edit]Latin
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- mīcca (attested in 1485, Du Cange)
Etymology
[edit]Uncertain:
- traditionally derived from Proto-Italic *(s)mīkā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyk- (“small, thin, delicate”), related to Ancient Greek (σ)μῑκρός ((s)mīkrós) – details there.
- in view of meaning (1), De Vaan (2008) with Nyman (1987) prefer Proto-Italic *meikā (“a glittering particle”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyk- (“to blink”), whence also micō.
Attested from Cato onwards.
A number of Romance forms, e.g. Romanian mic, Neapolitan miccu, Calabrian/Sicilian miccu, reflect an unattested adjective *mīccus. This is probably unrelated, being a borrowing from Ancient Greek μῑκκός (mīkkós), variant of μῑκρός (mīkrós, “small”); the form *mīcca is associated with the meaning “loaf of bread” particularly in Gallo-Romance and Gallo-Italic.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmiː.ka/, [ˈmiːkä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.ka/, [ˈmiːkä]
Noun
[edit]mīca f (genitive mīcae); first declension
- a grain (esp. a glittering one: of salt, marble, etc.), crumb
- (Medieval Latin, Gallia) a miche (a round loaf of brown bread)
- (New Latin, mineralogy) mica
Declension
[edit]First-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | mīca | mīcae |
Genitive | mīcae | mīcārum |
Dative | mīcae | mīcīs |
Accusative | mīcam | mīcās |
Ablative | mīcā | mīcīs |
Vocative | mīca | mīcae |
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- Eastern Romance:
- Romanian: mică
- Italian: mica
- Old French: mie
- French: mie
- Old Galician-Portuguese: miga
- Old Spanish: miga
- Spanish: miga
- → English: mica
- → French: mica
- → Galician: mica
- → Portuguese: mica
- → Spanish: mica
- ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *mīcca
References
[edit]- “mīca” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “mīca”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 378
- ^ Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “mīca”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 6/2: Mercatio–Mneme, page 76
Further reading
[edit]- “mica”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “mica”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- mica in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- mica in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Portuguese
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]
- Hyphenation: mi‧ca
Etymology 1
[edit]Borrowed from Latin mīca. Compare the inherited doublet miga.
Noun
[edit]mica f (plural micas)
- (mineralogy) mica (hydrous aluminosilicate mineral)
Related terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]Verb
[edit]mica
- inflection of micar:
Romanian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]mica
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Latin mīca. Compare the inherited doublet miga.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]mica f (plural micas)
- (mineralogy) mica
- (playground games, uncountable, El Salvador) tag, it (children's chasing game)
Related terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “mica”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- ¿Recuerdas cómo te divertías de pequeño? Estos son los juegos más tradicionales en El Salvador – Diario El Salvador
- Los juegos tradicionales de El Salvador de nuestra infancia | Guanacos
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aɪkə
- Rhymes:English/aɪkə/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Minerals
- English terms with quotations
- Aragonese terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- Aragonese terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Aragonese terms inherited from Latin
- Aragonese terms derived from Latin
- Aragonese lemmas
- Aragonese nouns
- Aragonese feminine nouns
- Aragonese adverbs
- Aragonese terms with usage examples
- Aragonese terms borrowed from Latin
- an:Minerals
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan terms inherited from Old Catalan
- Catalan terms derived from Old Catalan
- Catalan terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Catalan terms inherited from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan feminine nouns
- Catalan terms borrowed from Latin
- ca:Minerals
- Dutch terms borrowed from Latin
- Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch neuter nouns
- nl:Minerals
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- fr:Minerals
- Galician terms borrowed from Latin
- Galician learned borrowings from Latin
- Galician terms derived from Latin
- Galician lemmas
- Galician nouns
- Galician uncountable nouns
- Galician feminine nouns
- gl:Minerals
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ika
- Rhymes:Italian/ika/2 syllables
- Italian terms inherited from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian terms inherited from Proto-Italic
- Italian terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Italian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Italian terms with archaic senses
- Italian literary terms
- Italian adverbs
- Italian colloquialisms
- Italian terms with usage examples
- Italian terms borrowed from Latin
- it:Minerals
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *meyk-
- Latin terms with unknown etymologies
- Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin first declension nouns
- Latin feminine nouns in the first declension
- Latin feminine nouns
- Medieval Latin
- New Latin
- la:Minerals
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese terms borrowed from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese doublets
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese feminine nouns
- pt:Minerals
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Romanian/ikɐ
- Rhymes:Romanian/ikɐ/2 syllables
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian adjective forms
- Spanish terms borrowed from Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish doublets
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/ika
- Rhymes:Spanish/ika/2 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish feminine nouns
- es:Minerals
- es:Playground games
- Spanish uncountable nouns
- Salvadorian Spanish