It's the Word of the Day podcast for January 18th.

Today's word is miniscule, spelled M-I-N-U-S-C-U-L-E. Minuscule is an adjective.

Something described as miniscule is very small. Minuscule can

also mean written in or in the size or style of lowercase letters, in which case it can

be contrasted with the word, majuscular. Here's the word used in a sentence from bite,

an incisive history of teeth from hagfish to humans by Bill Shutt.

Resembling a stout field mouse, B. Brevacuda, is a tiny burrowing mammal with inconspicuous ears and minuscule eyes well hidden behind a long, narrow snout.

The word miniscule comes from the Latin adjective minusculus, meaning somewhat smaller or fairly small,

which in turn pairs the base of minus, meaning smaller, with culus, a diminutive suffix,

that is one indicating small size.

The minuscule spelling with a U is consistent with the words etymology,

but that didn't stop English speakers from adopting the variant spelling minuscule with an eye,

likely because they associated it with the combining form mini,

and such words as minimal and minimum.

Usage commentators generally consider the minuscule with an I spelling and error,

but it's widely used in reputable and carefully edited publications and is accepted as a legitimate

variant in some dictionaries. Our own dictionary identifies minuscule with

an eye as a disputed spelling variant. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.