ˈmi-ni-ˌchu̇r
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How Miniature Came to Mean What It Does
The word miniature is about size, and specifically, small size. But its Latin ancestor concerned not size, but color.
In the era before the invention of the printing press, anything printed was printed by hand: someone pressed a pigmented point to a surface and left marks. People used black pigment mostly, but sometimes they used red, especially for titles, large initial letters, and decorative drawings. The Latin name for the red coloring—which was either cinnabar or red lead—was minium, and the corresponding verb meaning "to color with minium" was miniare.
In early Italian, the association of decorative drawings with miniare was so strong that the meaning of miniare was broadened until it simply meant "to decorate a manuscript." A noun form of the word, miniatura, was used to refer to the art of illuminating—that is, of adding illustrations to—a manuscript, regardless of the colors used. Since the illuminations in manuscripts (as the illustrations themselves are called) were small by comparison with most other paintings, miniatura came to refer not only to a manuscript illumination but to any small portrait or painting, and eventually to anything very small. English speakers had adopted the word as miniature by the 16th century.
Synonyms
Examples of miniature in a Sentence
Rob Wieland, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024
Due to stage its first performances in late 2027, the theater, designed by Marvel Architects, will command some 27,000 square feet of the complex and feature both a 250-seat flexible space—imagine the Park Avenue Armory’s Drill Hall in miniature—and a 99-seat studio theater.
—Marley Marius, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2024
Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2024
This specialized miniature work machine can also handle serious play, supporting graphically demanding games like Baldur's Gate 3, Final Fantasy 14 Online, and Total War: Warhammer 3.
—PCMAG, 7 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for miniature 
Dictionary Entries Near miniature
Cite this Entry
“Miniature.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miniature. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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