Word.ws English Dictionary

min

/mɪn/

min is the abbreviation of minute.

min is the clipping of minute.

min is the abbreviation of minimum.

min is the clipping of minimum.

Verb

min (third-person singular simple present mins, present participle minning, simple past and past participle minned)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) to bring to the mind of; remind
  2. (obsolete, transitive) to remember
  3. (obsolete, transitive) to mention

Meaning of minute

Noun

minute (plural minutes)

  1. A unit of time which is one sixtieth of an hour (sixty seconds).
    • Holonyms: hectosecond < kilosecond < hour < day < week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
  2. (informal) A short but unspecified time period.
    • give me a minute
  3. A unit of angle equal to one-sixtieth of a degree.
    • We need to be sure these maps are accurate to within one minute of arc.
  4. (in plural, minutes) A (usually formal) written record of a meeting or a part of a meeting.
    • Let’s look at the minutes of last week’s meeting.
  5. A unit of purchase on a telephone or other similar network, especially a cell phone network, roughly equivalent in gross form to sixty seconds' use of the network.
    • If you buy this model, you’ll get 100 free minutes.
  6. A point in time; a moment.
    • I conked out the minute I got home.

See all 16 meanings of minute

Meaning of minimum

Noun

minimum (plural minima or minimums)

  1. The lowest limit.
    • We prefer candidates with a minimum of 4 years experience in the field.
  2. The smallest amount.
    • He always tries to get away with doing the minimum.
  3. A period of minimum brightness or energy intensity (of a star).
    • The Maunder minimum of the Sun reportedly corresponded to a period of great cold on Earth.
  4. A lower bound of a set which is also an element of that set.
  5. The smallest member of a batch or sample or the lower bound of a probability distribution.

See all 6 meanings of minimum

Adjective

min

  1. (Scotland, UK, dialectal, obsolete) Less; smaller; lower.
    • The more and the minneLe Bone Florence (late 1300s)

Noun (1)

min (plural mins)

  1. (obsolete) Memory; remembrance.
    • […] and faith I've done that same and found me min; […]1875, Joshiah Gilbet Holland, Sevenoaks

Noun (2)

min (uncountable)

  1. (informal) minoxidil

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Min

Min

  1. An Ancient Egyptian god of fertility and procreation.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Min

Min

  1. A river in Fujian, China.
    • The Lamyet (or Nanjeih) islands are situated to the northeastward of Chinchew bay, the nearest distant about forty miles. The mainland, leaving its usual northeastern direction, runs out due east for above thirty miles, and the first of the Lamyet islands lies off the easternmost point of it. From...1837 May, “Coast of China: the division of it into four portions ; brief description of the principal places on the southeastern, eastern, and northeastern portions.”, in The Chinese Repository...
    • We traveled down the Min River from Nanping in a small sampan, flying the American flag for protection against bandits and soldiers. Those were the days when the Stars and Stripes still afforded some protection.1953, John C. Caldwell, China Coast Family, Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 96
  2. A group of related Chinese languages from Fujian, including Hokkien and Eastern Min.
  3. A widely construed ethnic group composed of the speakers of those languages.
  4. Fujian province.
    • […]. They were started by people from Min [Fujian]. Now as a result, the profit is similar to that of Min.”1998, Sucheta Mazumdar, Sugar and Society in China: Peasants, Technology and the World Market, Harvard University Asia Center, page 301
    • In the early 1900s, because of the joining of regional cuisines of Zhe (Zhejiang), Min (Fujian), Xiang (Hunan) and Hui (Anhui) Cuisines, […]2007, 钟离图美, Food in China, 五洲传播出版社, pages 18–19

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Min

Min

  1. A river in Sichuan, China.

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Min

Min

  1. A male given name.
  2. A female given name.

Proper noun (5) capitalized: Min

Min

  1. The Mountain Ok ethnic group of Sandaun, Papua New Guinea.

Proper noun (6) capitalized: Min

Min

  1. (alternative, obsolete) Alternative form of Ming.
    • And ſince this Family, called Ciu, which now holdeth the Souereigntie, hath reigned, it is called Min, which intimateth Splendour, and by vſuall addition of one ſyllable Ta-min [translating 大明 (Dàmíng)], that is, the Kingdome of Great Splendour, Brightneſſe or Glory.1625, [Samuel] Purchas, “A Diſcourſe of the Kingdome of China”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 3rd part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, § V, page 380
    • Long before the Conqueſt of China by the Tartars in their laſt invaſion, and the depoſing of the Emperour of China, (viz. when the Soveraignty of the Kingdom was in the Family of Ciu) China was called by the Chineſes Min, which ſignifies Perſpicuty, or Brightneſs. Afterwards they added to the word...1669 [1665], John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, translation of...

Proper noun (7) capitalized: MIN

MIN

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Mississippi: a state of the United States.
  2. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Minneapolis: a city in Minnesota, United States.

Antonyms of min

Forms of min

Noun
pluralmins
alternative formmin.
Adjective
alternative formmyn
alternative formminne
alternative formmynne
Verb
third-person singular presentmins
present participleminning
past participleminned
pastminned

Origin of min

From Middle English min, from Old English min (“less; small, mean”), from Proto-West Germanic *minni, from Proto-Germanic *minniz (“less”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Cognate with Scots min (“less, lesser”), West Frisian min (“small, bad”), Dutch min (“less, small”), Low German minn (“small, low, lean”), German minder (“less”), Icelandic minna (“less”), Latin minus (“less”).

From Middle English min, minne, partly from Old English myne (“mind, intent, desire, love”), from Proto-West Germanic *muni, from Proto-Germanic *muniz (“mind, memory”); and also from Old Norse minni (“memory”), from Proto-Germanic *gaminþiją (“memory, remembrance”); both from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”). Related to Icelandic minni (“memory”), German Minne (“love”).

From Middle English minnen, mynnen, from Old Norse minna (“to bring to mind”), from minni (“memory”). See above.

Words formed from min

Phrases with min

3 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with min

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about min

What does min mean?
Min means less; smaller; lower.
What is min the abbreviation of?
Min is the abbreviation of minute.
What part of speech is min?
Min can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce min?
Min is pronounced /mɪn/.

Words near min in the dictionary

  1. mimsy
  2. mimulus
  3. mimuluses
  4. Mimwheeten
  5. mimzy
  6. min
  7. Min Bei
  8. Min Dong
  9. Min Min light
  10. Min Min lights
  11. Min Nan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: min (page history and authors); Min (page history and authors); MIN (page history and authors); minute (page history and authors); minimum (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-min.wav.

Cite this entry: “min.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/min. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.