minimum
min·i·mum/ˈmɪnəməm/noun, adjective
minimum is spelled M-I-N-I-M-U-M, 3 syllables: min·i·mum. The wrong spelling people search most is minimun: about 110 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 34 of all searches for the word. Minimum is a noun meaning “The lowest limit”. The plural of minimum is minima or minimums.
How many letters and syllables are in minimum?
| Letters | 7: M-I-N-I-M-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: min·i·mum |
| In writing | 49 times per million words; the 2,072nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, minimun, about 110 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell minimum?
Minimum is spelled M-I-N-I-M-U-M. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 14 of the searches for minimum in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is minimum?
Minimum appears 49 times per million words in written English, the 2,072nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce minimum?
- UK /ˈmɪnɪməm/
- US /ˈmɪnəməm/
Minimum has 3 syllables, split min·i·mum in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-minimum.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of minimum
- minima plural
- minimums plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does minimum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 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.
adjective
- 1
To the lowest degree.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate minimum?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of minimum: m., min, min..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Minimum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | minimum (plural minima m or minimums m) , minimum |
| German | Minimum, Mindestmaß , minimal |
| Portuguese | mínimo |
| Spanish | mínimo, mínimum |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does minimum come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin minimum, neuter form of minimus (“least, smallest”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).