minuscule meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

minuscule

noun

UK /ˈmɪnɪˌskjuːl/ · US /ˈmɪnəˌskjul/

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

A lowercase letter.

Either of the two medieval handwriting styles minuscule cursive and Caroline minuscule.

By the eighth century, Irish scribes had refined everyday cursive writing in minuscule to allow its use for the production of quality vellum books.2001, Steven Roger Fischer, History of Writing, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 254:

A letter in these styles.

Derived terms: Caroline minuscule, Carolingian minuscule, humanist minuscule, minuscule cursive

minuscule

adj

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

Written in minuscules, lowercase.

Written in minuscule handwriting style.

Very small; tiny.

a minuscule dot
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%.2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

Synonyms: lower-case, small, microscopic, minute, tiny
Antonyms: majuscule, uppercase
Derived terms: cominuscule, minuscular, minusculely