minuscule

English

Alternative forms

• miniscule (originally a misspelling, but now so common that it has come to be considered an alternative spelling by many)

Etymology

From French minuscule, from Latin minuscula, feminine of minusculus (“rather less, rather small”), from minus (“less, smaller”) + -culus (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪ.nəˌskjuːl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪ.nəˌskjul/, /mɪˈnʌˌskjul/

Noun

minuscule (plural minuscules)

1. A lowercase letter.
2. Either of the two medieval handwriting styles minuscule cursive and Caroline minuscule.
3. A letter in these styles.

Translations

lower-case letter

• Armenian: փոքրատառ (hy) (pʻokʻrataṙ)
• Catalan: minúscula (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 小寫字／小写字 (zh), 小写字 (zh) (xiǎoxiězì), 小寫字母／小写字母 (zh) (xiǎoxiě zìmǔ), 小写字母 (zh) (ziǎoxiězìmǔ)

• Czech: minuskule f
• Esperanto: minusklo
• Finnish: pienaakkonen (fi), pieni kirjain, minuskeli (fi)
• French: minuscule (fr) f
• German: Kleinbuchstabe (de) m, Gemeinbuchstabe m, Gemeiner m (der Gemeine)
• Hungarian: kisbetű (hu)
• Ido: minuskulo (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: minuscolo (it) m
• Japanese: 小文字 (ja) (こもじ, komoji)
• Manx: lettyr beg m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: minuskel (no) m, gemen (no) m, liten bokstav m

  Nynorsk: minuskel m, gemen m, liten bokstav m

• Portuguese: minúscula (pt) f
• Russian: стро́чная бу́ква (ru) f (stróčnaja búkva), ма́ленькая бу́ква f (málenʹkaja búkva)
• Spanish: minúscula (es) f
• Swedish: gemen (sv) c
• Vietnamese: chữ nhỏ
• Volapük: minud (vo)

medieval handwriting style

• Hungarian: minuszkula
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: мину́скул (ru) m (minúskul)

letter in this style

• Russian: мину́скул (ru) m (minúskul)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

minuscule (comparative more minuscule, superlative most minuscule)

1. Written in minuscules, lowercase.
2. Written in minuscule handwriting style.
3. Very small, tiny.
   • 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%.

   a minuscule dot

Synonyms

• (written in minuscules): lower-case, small
• (very small): microscopic, minute, tiny
• See also Thesaurus:tiny

Antonyms

• (lower-case): majuscule, uppercase

Translations

written in minuscules

• Finnish: pienin kirjaimin kirjoitettu
• French: minuscule (fr)
• German: Klein-
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: minúsculo (pt)
• Spanish: minúscula (es) f
• Volapük: minudik

written in minuscule handwriting style

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

very small, tiny

• Catalan: minúscul (ca)
• Czech: drobný (cs) m, nepatrný (cs) m, malinký m
• Esperanto: malgrandega
• Finnish: mitätön (fi), olematon (fi)
• French: minuscule (fr)
• German: (colloquial) klitzeklein (de), winzig (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: minuscolo (it)
• Japanese: 矮小 (ja) (waishou)
• Portuguese: minúsculo (pt)
• Spanish: minúsculo (es)
• Swedish: jätteliten (sv) (colloquial), pytteliten (sv) (colloquial)
• Volapük: vemo smalik

Usage notes

See the usage notes at miniscule

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.nys.kyl/

• audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin minusculus.

Adjective

minuscule (plural minuscules)

1. tiny, minute, minuscule
2. (typography) lowercase

Etymology 2

By ellipsis of [lettre] minuscule.

Noun

minuscule f (plural minuscules)

1. (typography) a minuscule, a lower case

   Antonym: majuscule

Further reading

• “minuscule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /miˈnus.ku.le/, [mɪˈnʊs̠kʊɫ̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /miˈnus.ku.le/, [miˈnuskule]

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) minuscule

1. vocative masculine singular of minusculus

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [miˈnus.ku.le]

Adjective

minuscule

1. feminine plural nominative of minuscul
2. feminine plural accusative of minuscul
3. neuter plural nominative of minuscul
4. neuter plural accusative of minuscul