minutia
/maɪ̯ˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/
"minutia" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“minutia” is uncommon English (frequency #92,882 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #92,882
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A minor detail, often of negligible importance.
Corpus desk
Index EN-minutia · minutia · English
minutia · rank #92,882 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #92,882
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH minimax
Nearest frequency peer: minimax (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “minutia”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- minifigure
minifigure
7,121 corpus weight
- minimax
minimax
7,120 corpus weight
- minutia
minutia
7,119 corpus weight
- misconceived
misconceived
7,118 corpus weight
- misquote
misquote
7,117 corpus weight
- Mithra
Mithra
7,116 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “minutia” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | minutia |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /maɪ̯ˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #92,882 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “minutia” in English
Rare enough to double-check
minutia is uncommon English at frequency #92,882 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /maɪ̯ˈn(j)uːʃ(iː)ə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
minutia has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin minutia, from minūtus (“small, little”), from minuō (“make smaller”). The correct English form is minutia, spelled M-I-N-U-T-I-A.
Definition
- 1A minor detail, often of negligible importance.
- 2Any of the point features on fingerprints used for matching, usually endings and bifurcations of ridges.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how minutia appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
They spent all their time on minutiae, never making real progress.
I think I can ſee the preciſe and diſtinguiſhing marks of national characters more in theſe nonſenſical minutiæ, than in the moſt important matters of ſtate ; where great men of all nations talk and ſtalk ſo much alike, that I would not give ninepence to chuſe amongſt them.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin minutia, from minūtus (“small, little”), from minuō (“make smaller”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "minutia"?
What does "minutia" mean?
How do you pronounce "minutia"?
What is the origin of the word "minutia"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "minutia", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).