Etymology

minicomputer

M3I1N1I1C3O1M3P3U1T1E1R1

Today it means: A computer smaller than a mainframe, but larger than a microcomputer. Full definition →

English computer ← French computer ← Latin computāre
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. LatinMinius
  2. Latinminium
  3. Italianminio
  4. Italianminiare
  5. Italianminiatura
  6. Englishminiature
  7. Englishmini-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  9. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  10. Proto-Italic*kom
  11. Proto-Italic*kom-
  12. Latincon-
  13. Latinputus
  14. Latinputō
  15. Latincomputō
  16. Latincomputāre
  17. Frenchcomputer
  18. Englishcompute
  19. Englishcomputer
  20. English todayminicomputer

From mini- + computer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.