minuo

From Proto-Italic *minuō, from *mi-néw-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”).^[1] 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”).^[2] Related to minor.

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

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.

(Note: see also Etymology 2.)

• “minuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• minuo in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2026), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• “minuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “minuo”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to increase a person's dignity: auctoritatem alicuius amplificare (opp. imminuere, minuere)
    
  • to weaken, diminish a person's hope: spem alicui or alicuius minuere
    
  • to retrench: sumptum minuere
    

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

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

1. alternative form of minuō

minuo (Cyrillic spelling минуо)

1. active past participle of minuti