minutia

noun

mi·​nu·​tia mə-ˈnü-sh(ē-)ə How to pronounce minutia (audio)
mī-,
-ˈnyü-
plural minutiae mə-ˈnü-shē-ˌē How to pronounce minutia (audio)
-ˌī,
mī-,
-ˈnyü-,
-sh(ē-)ə
: a minute or minor detail
usually used in plural
He was bewildered by the contract's minutiae.

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Minutia Has Latin Roots

Minutia was borrowed into English in the 18th century from the Latin plural noun minutiae, meaning "trifles" or "details," and derived from the singular noun minutia, meaning "smallness." In English, minutia is most often used in the plural as either minutiae (pronounced \muh-NOO-shee-ee) or, on occasion, as simply minutia. The Latin minutia, incidentally, comes from minutus, an adjective meaning "small" that was created from the verb minuere, meaning "to lessen." A familiar descendant of minutus is minute.

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How to Pronounce Minutia and Minutiae

Minutiae, we’ve established, is the plural of minutia and also far more common in prose than the singular minutia. There is, however, confusion over the pronunciation of both the singular and the plural, and the confusion may be leading some to use the singular minutia where the plural minutiae is called for. Minutia, the singular, is generally pronounced \muh-NOO-shee-uh\ or \muh-NOO-shuh\, and the plural minutiae should be properly pronounced \muh-NOO-shee-ee\. But transcripts of spoken English show that this is not always adhered to: minutia shows up in transcribed speech far more often than it does in edited writing, and usually in places where one would expect minutiae. This leads us to believe that the pronunciation of minutiae is merging with the pronunciation of minutia, or that minutia is being re-analyzed as a zero plural.

Examples of minutia in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web By his own acknowledgment, however, Jesus Cardenas was not adept at the minutia of running a business and filing all of the accompanying paperwork. Tammy Murga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Feb. 2024 While there’s plenty of minutiae to absorb in this depiction of one historic day, there’s also the palpable sense of how shockingly things can change in a few hours—for individuals and the wider world. Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024 Intimate shots pull the viewer into the narrative’s minutiae, running at full-pace. Holly Jones, Variety, 19 Feb. 2024 Year after year, submissions have depicted the minutiae of the brain’s tangle of blood vessels and neurons, revealing the beauty at the intersection of the artistic and scientific realms. Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 4 Dec. 2023 The lack of a nod to Ohanian in the new document could reflect both that schism and Huffman’s attempt to cast a company that’s been around for 19 years in a new light. Disputes among startup cofounders are common, and not every investor pitch recounts the minutiae of a company’s history. Paresh Dave, WIRED, 23 Feb. 2024 Level 2 refers to minutiae or small details, such as bifurcations, endings, eyes and hooks. Partha Banerjee, Discover Magazine, 23 Jan. 2024 The trial, which began Oct. 2, revolved around accounting minutiae and days of dry testimony that were punctuated by heated courtroom outbursts and confrontations. Graham Kates, CBS News, 11 Jan. 2024 But this detailed study is itself a work of pure imagination, a choreographic poem in which the messy minutiae of collaboration is coordinated in theatrical space to lay bare the dirty human secrets of artistic creation. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'minutia.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin minutiae trifles, details, from plural of minutia smallness, from minutus

First Known Use

1748, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of minutia was in 1748

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Dictionary Entries Near minutia

Cite this Entry

“Minutia.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minutia. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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