Where does “minibus” come from?
Minibus combines English miniature with English bus, tracing back through Italian miniare and Latin minium, originally denoting red lead pigment used in manuscript illumination.
minibus (English): A small bus, especially one used as transport for...
Definitions
- A small bus, especially one used as transport for...
Ancestry of “minibus”, step by step
minibus traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English bus
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | bus | A motor vehicle for transporting large numbers of... |
| 2 | English | omnibus | A vehicle set up to carry many people; An... |
| 3 | French | omnibus | Pertaining to a local; omnibus, bus |
| 4 | Latin | omnibus | dative masculine plural of omnis; dative feminine... |
| 5 | Latin | omnis | every; all |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | opnis | every, all |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ep-ni-s | working |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ep- | to work, toil, make; ability, force |