Standard Lemma guide

minikin

adj · noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Diminutive or miniature.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A young person, especially a young woman.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A small or insignificant person, thing or amount.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A little pin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The size of type smaller than brilliant, standardized as 3-point.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, dated, uncountable

Topics: media, printing, publishing

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The treble string of a lute.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle Dutch minnekijn (“darling, beloved”), from minne (“love”) (cf. minnesinger) and the diminutive suffix -kijn.

From Miniken, a 16th-century English form of the place name Munich, a German city where such strings were produced and from which they were imported. Miniken is derived from then-contemporary German Münichen.