minuscule
/ˈmɪnəˌskjul/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.99 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Either of the two medieval handwriting styles minuscule cursive and Caroline minuscule.
Uncountable
adj
adj
Written in minuscule handwriting style.
Example Sentences
- "By the eighth century, Irish scribes had refined everyday cursive writing in minuscule to allow its use for the production of quality vellum books."
- "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%."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɪnəˌskjul/
- British English: /ˈmɪnɪˌskjuːl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
minuscules (plural)
miniscule (alternative)
more minuscule (comparative)
most minuscule (superlative)