Meanings
minikin1
plural minikins
- countableobsoleteuncountableA young person, especially a young woman.
- countableobsoleteuncountableA small or insignificant person, thing or amount.
- countableobsoleteuncountableA little pin.
There were about forty lines; and such lines! of all sorts and sizes, like a paper of mixed pins, […] long and short, corkings and minikins, jumbled altogether!
1842, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register (page 383)
comparative more minikin · superlative most minikin
- obsoleteDiminutive or miniature.
minikin2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe size of type smaller than brilliant, standardized as 3-point.
Origin
minikin · noun, adjective
- Middle Dutchminnekijn“darling, beloved”
- Englishminikin
From Middle Dutch minnekijn (“darling, beloved”), from minne (“love”) (cf. minnesinger) and the diminutive suffix -kijn.
More words from Middle Dutch
Full word history & related roots →minikin · noun
- GermanMünichen
- Englishminikin
From Miniken, a 16th-century English form of the place name Munich, a German city where such strings were produced and from which they were imported. Miniken is derived from then-contemporary German Münichen.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
minikin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/minikin
“minikin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/minikin. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “minikin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/minikin.
Source: minikin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.