different between minute vs flimsy

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English mynute, minute, mynet, from Old French minute, from Medieval Latin min?ta (“60th of an hour; note”). Doublet of menu.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?n'?t, IPA^(key): /?m?n?t/
• Rhymes: -?n?t

Noun

minute (plural minutes)

1. A unit of time equal to sixty seconds (one-sixtieth of an hour).

2. (informal) A short but unspecified time period.

   Synonyms: instant, jiffy, mo, moment, sec, second, tic

3. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.

   Synonym: minute of arc

4. (chiefly in the plural, minutes) A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.
   • 2008, Pink Dandelion: The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction, p 52:

     The Clerk or 'recording Clerk' drafts a minute and then, or at a later time, reads it to the Meeting. Subsequent contributions are on the wording of the minute only, until it can be accepted by the Meeting. Once the minute is accepted, the Meeting moves on to the next item on the agenda.

5. A unit of purchase on a telephone or other network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network.

6. A point in time; a moment.
7. A nautical or a geographic mile.
8. An old coin, a half farthing.
9. (obsolete) A very small part of anything, or anything very small; a jot; a whit.
10. (architecture) A fixed part of a module.
11. (slang, US, Canada, dialectal) A while or a long unspecified period of time

    Oh, I ain't heard that song in a minute!

    • 2010, Kenneth Ring, Letters from Palestine, page 18:

      “Man, I haven’t seen you in a minute,” he says, smiling still. “Maybe like two, three years ago?”

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: minit

Borrowings

Translations

Verb

minute (third-person singular simple present minutes, present participle minuting, simple past and past participle minuted)

1. (transitive) Of an event, to write in a memo or the minutes of a meeting.
2. To set down a short sketch or note of; to jot down; to make a minute or a brief summary of.

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin min?tus (“small", "petty”), perfect passive participle of minu? (“make smaller”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: m?nyo?ot', IPA^(key): /ma??nju?t/
• (US) enPR: m?n(y)o?ot', m?n(y)o?ot', IPA^(key): /ma??n(j)ut/, /m??n(j)ut/
• Rhymes: -u?t

Adjective

minute (comparative minuter, superlative minutest)

1. Very small.

   Synonyms: infinitesimal, insignificant, minuscule, tiny, trace

   Antonyms: big, enormous, colossal, huge, significant, tremendous, vast

2. Very careful and exact, giving small details.

   Synonyms: exact, exacting, excruciating, precise, scrupulous

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:tiny and Thesaurus:meticulous.

Translations

Anagrams

• minuet, munite, mutein, mutine, untime

Afrikaans

Noun

minute

1. plural of minuut

Esperanto

Etymology

From minuto +? -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi?nute/
• Hyphenation: mi?nu?te
• Rhymes: -ute

Adverb

minute

1. Lasting for a very short period; briefly, momentarily

French

Etymology

From Old French minute, borrowed from Latin min?ta. Compare menu, an inherited doublet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.nyt/

Noun

minute f (plural minutes)

1. minute (etymology 1, time unit, all same senses)

Derived terms

• minute de silence
• minute papillon

Descendants

• ? Farefare: miniti
• Haitian Creole: minit
• ? Romanian: minut

Interjection

minute

1. wait a sec!

Verb

minute

1. first-person singular present indicative of minuter
2. third-person singular present indicative of minuter
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of minuter
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of minuter
5. second-person singular imperative of minuter

Further reading

• “minute” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Adjective

minute

1. feminine plural of minuto

Anagrams

• emunti, munite

Latin

Participle

min?te

1. vocative masculine singular of min?tus

References

• minute in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• minute in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• minute in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Middle English

Noun

minute

1. Alternative form of mynute

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin min?ta.

Noun

minute f (oblique plural minutes, nominative singular minute, nominative plural minutes)

1. minute (one sixtieth of an hour)

Coordinate terms

• segont
• eure
• jor
• semaine
• an

Descendants

• Middle French: minute
  • French: minute
    • ? Farefare: miniti
    • Haitian Creole: minit
    • ? Romanian: minut
  • ? Dutch: minuut
    • Afrikaans: minuut
• Norman: minnute
• Walloon: munute
• ? Central Franconian: Menutt, Minutt
• ? German: Minute, Minut f, [Term?] n
  • ? Czech: minuta
• ? Lower Sorbian: minuta
• ? Luxembourgish: Minutt
• ? Middle English: mynute, minute, mynut, mynet, minut
  • English: minute
    • Tok Pisin: minit
  • Scots: meenit

Portuguese

Verb

minute

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of minutar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of minutar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of minutar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of minutar

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain. First used in the 18th century. Perhaps a metathesis of film +? -s +? -y; or related to flimflam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fl?mzi/

Adjective

flimsy (comparative flimsier or more flimsy, superlative flimsiest or most flimsy)

1. Likely to bend or break under pressure.

   Synonyms: weak, shaky, flexible, fragile

   Antonyms: robust, strong, sturdy

   • 1715, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals

     All the flimsy furniture of a country miss's brain.

2. (figuratively) Weak; ill-founded.

   Synonyms: weak, feeble, unconvincing

   Antonyms: well-founded, substantiated

Translations

Noun

flimsy (plural flimsies)

1. Thin typing paper used to make multiple copies.
   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 251:

     Smiley peered once more at the flimsy which he still clutched in his pudgy hand.

2. (naval slang) A service certificate
   • 1964, Australia. Parliament, Records of the Proceedings and Printed Papers of the Parliament

     A perusal of the comments of officers under whom he has served as recorded in his “flimsies" indicates that he has almost consistently received high commendation for his service.

   • 1994, John Wells, The Royal Navy: An Illustrated Social History, 1870-1982 (page 7)

     Regulations required a commanding officer to render annual confidential reports on the character and ability of his officers - with particular reference to sobriety - on forms known as 'flimsies'.

3. (informal, in the plural) Skimpy underwear.
4. (slang) A banknote.

Translations