minutia
noun
Did you know?
Minutia Has Latin Roots
We’ll try not to bore you with the minor details of minutia, though some things are worth noting about the word’s history and usage. It’ll only take a minute! Minutia was borrowed into English in the 18th century from the Latin plural noun minutiae, meaning “trifles” or “details,” which comes 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 (also the ancestor of the familiar English word minute), an adjective meaning “small” that was created from the verb minuere, meaning “to lessen.”
Did you know?
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
Armond White, National Review, 30 May 2025
Whether passed by Congress or state legislatures, laws cannot specify all the minutiae involved in protecting the health and safety of the people.
—Paisley Currah, New Yorker, 27 May 2025
Voters would smell that and, anyway, Harris would be miserably bored in the state Capitol dealing with budget minutiae and relatively inexperienced legislative leaders.
—George Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2025
But this can compel workers to focus on completing an endless minutia of busywork rather than focusing on getting key projects and tasks done efficiently.
—Adia Harvey Wingfield, Forbes.com, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for minutia
Cite this Entry
“Minutia.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minutia. Accessed 24 Jun. 2025.
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