mi·nus·cule / ˈminəˌskyoōl; minˈəsˌkyoōl/ • adj. 1. extremely small; tiny: a minuscule fragment of DNA. ∎ inf. so small as to be negligible or insufficient: he believed the risk of infection was minuscule.2. of or in lowercase letters, as distinct from capitals or uncials. ∎  of or in a small cursive script of the Roman alphabet, with ascenders and descenders, developed in the 7th century ad.• n. minuscule script. ∎  a small or lowercase letter.DERIVATIVES: mi·nus·cu·lar / məˈnəskyələr/ adj.

minuscule of or in a small cursive script of the Roman alphabet, with ascenders and descenders, developed in the 7th century ad. The name comes (in the early 18th century) via French from Latin minuscula (littera) ‘somewhat smaller (letter)’. (Compare majuscule.)

minuscule (of a letter) small, not capital XVIII; (gen.) extremely small XIX. — F. minuscule — L. minuscula, fem. of minusculus rather less, dim. of MINOR.