minus

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmaɪ.nəs/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin minus (“less”), the neuter of minor, smaller (see minor),^[2][3][4] from a suffixed form of a root meaning “small”.^[3] The sense “subtracted from” did not exist in Latin of any period and probably arose in the commercial language of the Middle Ages;^[2][3] the OED suggests German merchants first wrote plus and minus beside a number for an excess or shortfall in weight.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

With the subtraction of, placed between two numbers: 1481–90.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

As the spoken name of the sign −, minus is from 1579,^[5][6] and the noun, the minus sign, from 1654,^[2] the 1650s in Etymonline; a negative quantity is from 1708.^[3] In electricity, negatively charged is from 1747.^[5] The colloquial sense, without or lacking (minus his hat), is from 1813 in the OED, 1840 in Barnhart.^[5][2] The adjective is from 1789,^[2] and a disadvantage or deficiency belongs to later use.^[7]

Timeline

• 1481–90 – with the subtraction of.^[5][2]
• 1579 – the minus sign, spoken.^[5][6]
• 1654 – the sign (noun).^[2]
• 1747 – negatively charged.^[5]
• 1813 – without, lacking.^[5]
• 1889 – minus sign.^[2]

Modern meaning

Preposition

1. Reduced by the subtraction of: four minus two.
2. (informal) Without; lacking.

Adjective

1. Negative, less than zero: a minus number.
2. Slightly below a grade: B minus.

Noun

1. The minus sign (−).
2. A deficiency or disadvantage.

Word family

• ice-minus
• minus sign
• plus or minus

Related words

• minor
• plus
• minute
• diminish

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin