minutia

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin minutia, from minūtus (“small, little”), from minuō (“make smaller”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maɪˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/, /məˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

minutia (plural minutiae or minutiæ)

1. A minor detail, often of negligible importance.

   They spent all their time on minutiae, never making real progress.

   • 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 2nd edition, volume I, London: T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, published 1768, page 159:

     I think I can ſee the preciſe and diſtinguiſhing marks of national characters more in theſe nonſenſical minutiæ, than in the moſt important matters of ſtate ; where great men of all nations talk and ſtalk ſo much alike, that I would not give ninepence to chuſe amongſt them.

2. (biometrics, forensics) Any of the point features on fingerprints used for matching, usually endings and bifurcations of ridges.

Translations

minor detail

• Finnish: pikkuseikka (fi)
• French: petit détail m
• German: Detail (de) n, Einzelheit (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: detaleto (io)
• Japanese: 枝葉末節 (ja) (siyōmassetsu)
• Spanish: detalle (es) m, vericueto (es) m, entresijo m, pequeñez (es) f, mezquindad (es) f, trivialidad f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• (deprecated template usage) Hebrew: פרט קטן וזניח, חסר משמעות

---

Latin

Etymology

Derived from minūtus (“diminished”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /miˈnuː.ti.a/, [mɪˈnuːt̪iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /miˈnut.t͡si.a/, [miˈnut̪ː͡s̪iä]

Noun

minūtia f (genitive minūtiae); first declension

1. smallness, fineness, minuteness

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	minūtia	minūtiae
Genitive	minūtiae	minūtiārum
Dative	minūtiae	minūtiīs
Accusative	minūtiam	minūtiās
Ablative	minūtiā	minūtiīs
Vocative	minūtia	minūtiae

Descendants

• French: menuise; → minutie
• → Friulian: minuzie
• ⇒ Galician: esmiuzar
• → Galician: minucia
• Italian: minugia; → minuzia
• Portuguese: miúça; → minúcia
• Spanish: menucia, menuza; → minucia
• → English: minutia

References

• “minutia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• minutia 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)
• minutia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.