Where does “minute” come from?

minute (French) comes from Old French minute, from Latin minuta, from Latin minūtus, from Proto-Italic minwō, from Proto-Indo-European mēy- — soft, tender, dear.

minute (French): minute; wait a sec!; first-person singular...

Definitions

  1. minute; wait a sec!; first-person singular...

Ancestry of “minute”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchminuteminute one sixtieth of an hour
2Latinminutanominative feminine singular of minūtus;...
3Latinminūtusdiminished, having been diminished
4Proto-Italicminwō
5Proto-Indo-Europeanmēy-soft, tender, dear

Words derived from “minute

Every word from Proto-Indo-European mēy-
minute — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer