minuō

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *minuō, from *mi-néw-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Cognate with Sanskrit मीनाति (minā́ti, “to lessen, diminish, damage”) (also मिनोति (minóti)), Ancient Greek μινύθω (minúthō, “to lessen; to disappear”), Cornish minow (“to reduce”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃(mins, “less”), Old Church Slavonic мьнйии (mĭnjii, “smaller, lesser, younger”), Tocharian B maiwe (“small, young”). Related to minor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmɪ.nu.oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmiː.nu.o]

Verb

minuō (present infinitive minuere, perfect active minuī, supine minūtum); third conjugation

1. to make smaller, lessen, diminish, reduce, minimize

   Synonyms: diminuō, dēminuō, imminuō, tenuō, premō, corripiō

   Antonyms: augeō, amplificō, extendō, accumulō, cumulō, multiplicō

2. to attenuate, appease, suppress, repress, quell

   Synonym: coërceo

3. to dismember, tear apart, break

   Synonyms: findo, rumpo

4. to restrict, confine, limit

   Synonyms: fīniō, līmitō, delīmitō, claudō, urgeō, moderor, inclūdō

   animos minuere ― to restrict the wrath

5. to remove, subtract, detract
6. to reduce the importance
7. to undermine, weaken, debilitate, soften

   Synonyms: atterō, dēterō, frangō, effēminō, tenuō, cōnsūmō, afficiō

   Antonyms: firmō, cōnfirmō, mūniō, fortificō, cōnsolidō, sistō

8. to eliminate, delete, remove
9. (poetic) to cease, stop, give up

   c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura II.1028:

   nil adeo magnum neque tam mirabile quicquam, quod non paulatim minuant mirarier omnes

   Nothing is so great or so miraculous that all do not gradually cease to marvel thereat.

Reassignment of etymology 1 to the first conjugation. Attested from the fourth century CE.

Verb

minuō (present infinitive minuāre, perfect active minuāvī, supine minuātum); first conjugation(Late Latin)

1. alternative form of minuō