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).

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 a small cursive script developed in the 7th century a.d. from the uncial, which it afterward superseded.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

/ mɪˈnʌskjʊlə, 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

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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

Pollsters say that minuscule lead will hold as the remaining ballots fall in her favor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

"It really does crush the team but that's minuscule compared to the anxiety and the stress for the families."

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

Now, in one way to look at it, an average taxpayer’s share of defense activities is minuscule.

From Slate ● May 11, 2026

For one thing, as Anita suggested, the audience will be exceedingly small — minuscule, even, relative to the state’s 23 million registered voters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026

The addition of the ion was critical: with the solution supplemented with magnesium, the ribosome remained glued together, and Brenner and Jacob finally purified a minuscule amount of the messenger molecule out of bacterial cells.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The first book wholly printed in Greek minuscules was Lascaris' Grammar at Milan in 1476.

From The Century of Columbus by Walsh, James J.

Had the introduction of printing been preceded by a revival of the beautiful Greek book-hand of the eleventh century, similar to the revival of the Caroline minuscules, all would have been well.

From A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898 by Pollard, Alfred W. (Alfred William)

It must be remembered that the dating of the MSS., especially of minuscules, is by no means certain: Greek Palaeography is a difficult subject, and not all the MSS. have been investigated by competent palaeographers.

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

Written in regular Italian minuscules of the 15th century, formed on the models of the 11th and 12th centuries.

From Catalogue of the William Loring Andrews Collection of Early Books in the Library of Yale University by Van Name, Addison

There is abundant evidence elsewhere in the Letters that the immediate ancestor of BF was written in minuscules; I need not elaborate this point.

From A Sixth-Century Fragment of the Letters of Pliny the Younger A Study of Six Leaves of an Uncial Manuscript Preserved in the Pierpont Morgan Library New York by Lowe, E. A. (Elias Avery)

Related Words

• insignificant
• microscopic
• small
• tiny