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minus

/ˈmaɪ.nəs/preposition, noun, adjective, verb

minus is spelled M-I-N-U-S: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a preposition, minus means “Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in minus?

Letters5: M-I-N-U-S
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing10 times per million words; the 7,121st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is minus?

Minus appears 10 times per million words in written English, the 7,121st 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 minus?

  • US /ˈmaɪ.nəs/
  • Australia /ˈmɑe.nəs/
  • /ˈmaɪ.nəs/

Minus has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-minus.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with minus?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as minus from its last stressed vowel (/aɪnəs/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of minus

  • minuses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • minusses plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • minusing participle, present
  • minussing participle, present
  • minused participle, past
  • minussed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does minus mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

preposition

  1. 1

    Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).

    Seven minus two is five.

  2. 2

    informalWithout; deprived of.

    I walked out minus my coat.

noun

  1. 1

    The minus sign (−).

  2. 2

    A negative quantity.

  3. 3

    A downside or disadvantage.

adjective

  1. 1

    Being a negative quantity; pertaining to a deficit or reduction.

    a minus number

  2. 2

    That is below zero by (a specified amount) on a scale.

    minus seven degrees

  3. 3

    colloquialobsoleteWorse off than before; out of pocket.

    The races being finished, we left Epsom for London, Mordaunt's natural vile temper not being at all improved by being three hundred pounds minus by the week's speculation […] .

  4. 4

    Ranking just below (a designated rating).

    He got a grade of B minus for his essay.

verb

  1. 1

    colloquialTo subtract.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate minus?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of minus: PMI.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Minus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmoins (mathematics: less), strictement négatif, strictement négative (negative)
Germanweniger, minus (mathematics: less), Minus (mathematics: negative quantity)
Portuguesemenos (mathematics: less), negativo (mathematics: negative quantity)
Spanishmenos (mathematics: less), negativo (mathematics: negative quantity)

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 minus come from?

From Middle English mynus, from Latin minus, neuter form of minor, comparative form of parvus (“small, little”), from the Proto-Indo-European root *mey- (“few, small”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after minus