Etymology

mini-

min·i

Today it means: Smaller version of an item than usual. Full definition →

English miniature ← Italian miniatura ← Latin minium
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The story

  1. LatinMinius
  2. Latinminium
  3. Italianminio
  4. Italianminiare
  5. Italianminiatura
  6. Englishminiature
  7. English todaymini-

Shortened from miniature, ultimately from Latin minium (“red lead”). Influenced by similarity to minimum and minus.

Words from the same roots

Latinminium all →

carmineminium

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.