minuscule

American  

[min-uh-skyool, mi-nuhs-kyool] / ˈmɪn əˌskjul, mɪˈnʌs kjul /

adjective

1. very small.

2. (of letters or writing) small; not capital.

3. written in such letters (opposed to majuscule).

---

noun

• minuscules
  plural

1. a minuscule letter.

2. a small cursive script developed in the 7th century a.d. from the uncial, which it afterward superseded.

minuscule British  

/ ˈmɪnəˌskjuːl /

noun

1. a lower-case letter

2. writing using such letters

3. a small cursive 7th-century style of lettering derived from the uncial

---

adjective

1. relating to, printed in, or written in small letters Compare majuscule

2. very small

3. (of letters) lower-case

Spelling

Minuscule, from Latin minus meaning “less,” has frequently come to be spelled miniscule, perhaps under the influence of the prefix mini- in the sense “of a small size.” Although this newer spelling is criticized by many, it occurs with such frequency in edited writing that some consider it a variant spelling rather than a misspelling.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• minuscular
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• minuscules
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of minuscule

First recorded in 1695–1705; from Latin minusculus “smallish, pretty small, minor”; see minus, -cule ¹

---

Explanation

When something is teeny tiny, it is minuscule. If your mother calls your miniskirt minuscule, it probably means she wants you to change into something a bit less revealing. In minuscule, you see the word, minus, which means lesser. The word minuscule has its roots in the Latin expression minuscula littera, a phrase used to describe the smaller letters in text. In the late 1800s, the use of the word expanded to mean very small in general — so the definition of minuscule became less minuscule.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

minuscule minuscules

The so-called jobless claims published each week by the Labor Department were already minuscule before the pandemic but sank to a 57-year low of 189,000 over the summer.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

The minuscule yet distinctly humanoid figure of a fairy flaps its wings as it flies into the ancient ruins of a bygone kingdom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Gazza's baggy Roman shellsuit, John Charles plundering black-and-white goals in Turin, King Kev's floodlit perm dazzling Volksparkstadion terraces, Glenn Hoddle's minuscule Monegasque shorts.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

And because their other waste product is water, the center’s net water loss will be comparatively minuscule.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

“Because you police departments can’t do an adequate job in the simple matter of detecting the minuscule number of Nexus-6s who balk—”

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

Where minuscules are used, the writing is not quite so legible as in the larger hands, but we are not met by the singular difficulties of some of the Lombardic texts.

From Illuminated Manuscripts by John William Bradley

The letters shown in 182 are fairly typical of the characteristic Blackletter minuscules of Italy.

From Letters and Lettering A Treatise With 200 Examples by Frank Chouteau Brown

These agree in the main, but differ for the more recently discovered minuscules.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various

The rest of the N. T. is only found in codices of the whole Bible, which are rare and always written in minuscules, never in uncials as are the Gospels.

From A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Vol. II. by Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener

If minuscules are used, the words should be transliterated as quinque, queen, Europe, according to the practice of the old printers themselves.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• insignificant
• microscopic
• small
• tiny

---