A minute is a unit of time equal to 60 seconds. As an adjective (pronounced differently), ‘minute’ means extremely small or detailed.
From Latin ‘pars minuta prima,’ meaning ‘first small part,’ used for a small division of an hour; ‘minute’ was shortened from this phrase. The ‘tiny’ meaning grew from the idea of something very small or finely divided.
The word packs two lives into one spelling: a ‘minute’ of time and a ‘minute’ speck of dust. Both come from the idea of slicing something into very small parts—time into seconds, and objects into tiny details.
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