A minuet is a slow, graceful dance for two people, popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, and also the music written for that dance. It is usually in triple time, with a gentle, elegant feel.
From French ‘menuet,’ from ‘menu’ meaning ‘small’ or ‘delicate,’ referring to the dance’s small, dainty steps. It spread across European courts as a fashionable dance style.
The minuet was the social media of its time—a formal way for people to see and be seen at court. Even when people stopped dancing it, composers kept writing minuets into symphonies as a musical nod to that elegant world.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.