minute

English has two words spelled minute, both from Latin minūtus “small”: the noun, /ˈmɪn.ɪt/, a sixtieth of an hour, which came through Medieval Latin, and the adjective, /maɪˈnjuːt/, “very small”.^[1][2][3]

minute¹ sixtieth of an hour

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪn.ɪt/^[4]

Etymology

The sixtieth of an hour is inherited from Middle English minute,^[3][5] borrowed from Old French minut or directly borrowed from Medieval Latin minūta (“minute of time; short note”),^[6][2] short for pars minūta prīma (“first small part”),^[3][2][7] from Latin minūta (“a small portion”), the feminine of minūtus (“small”), the past participle of minuere (“to lessen, diminish”),^[6][3] from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”).^[6] Ptolemy used pars minuta prima for a sixtieth of a circle, later a sixtieth of an hour, and the next division, secunda minuta, gave second.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sixtieth of an hour or of a degree: 1377,^[9] or about 1378 in a version of Piers Plowman.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“A short space of time, a moment” is from the late 14th century (1390),^[6][9] and a particular instant from 1598.^[9] A coin of little value, a mite, from 1382, is obsolete.^[9] A rough draft or memorandum is from 1443,^[2] probably from the medieval Latin minuta, a draft in small writing as distinct from the fair copy,^[8][1] and the minutes of a meeting developed from it about 1710.^[2] The verb, “to record in the minutes”, is from the noun.^[8][10] The minute hand is from 1726,^[6] and the minuteman, a militiaman ready at short notice, is American English from 1774.^[2] A distance measured by the minutes needed to travel it is from 1886.^[9][6] Minute steak is from 1934.^[2]

Timeline

• 1377 – a sixtieth of an hour.^[9]
• 1390 – a moment.^[9]
• 1443 – a memorandum.^[2]
• c. 1710 – the minutes of a meeting.^[2]
• 1726 – minute hand.^[6]
• 1774 – minuteman.^[2]
• 1886 – a distance in minutes.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A unit of time equal to sixty seconds, or one sixtieth of an hour.
2. A short time; a moment: wait a minute.
3. A unit of angle equal to one sixtieth of a degree.
4. (plural) An official record of what was said at a meeting.
5. A short note or memorandum.

Verb

1. To record in the minutes of a meeting.

Word family

• minute hand
• minuteman

minute² very small

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /maɪˈnjuːt/, US /maɪˈnuːt/^[4]

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Latin minūtus (“little, small”), the past participle of minuere (“to lessen, diminish”),^[6][2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“small”).^[6] It is related to minor and is a doublet of menu.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Chopped small”: about 1420,^[9] or the mid-15th century,^[6] now obsolete.^[9][11] Barnhart dates the adjective “very small” to 1472, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of taxes, “lesser”, as in minute tithes, is from 1464 and obsolete.^[9] “Very small in size or degree, petty” is from the late 15th century,^[6] and “closely precise or exact” from the 1680s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – chopped small.^[9]
• 1464 – of taxes, lesser.^[9]
• 1472 – very small.^[2]
• 1680s – very precise.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Extremely small; tiny.
2. Of little importance; insignificant.
3. Very careful and detailed: a minute examination.

Word family

• minutely
• minuteness
• minutiae

Related words

• minor
• minus
• diminish
• menu
• mince
• second

References

1. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press