minute
Please minute minute details in the report.
The sentence instructs to record very small details in the report.
Meanings
as noun: a unit of time equal to 60 seconds; as verb: to record briefly in writing (notes, minutes of a meeting)
- The meeting lasted 45 minutes.
- Please minute the action items as we go.
extremely small in size, amount, or degree; very tiny
- A minute speck of dust on the lens.
- The differences are minute but measurable.
Word origin
Both senses descend from Latin minūtus ('small'), past participle of minuere ('to lessen, diminish'). The noun /ˈmɪnɪt/ (60 seconds) developed in Medieval Latin from pars minūta prīma, 'first small part' — the first division of an hour. The adjective /maɪˈnjuːt/ (very small) preserved more directly the Latin sense. The two senses split phonetically and conceptually by the late Middle English period.
Fun fact
The same Latin minūtus gives us both 'minute the timekeeping unit' and 'minute the size adjective.' The time unit's odd 60-second division is itself a fossil — Medieval scholars subdivided the hour using base-60 arithmetic borrowed from ancient Babylonian astronomy, which is why we have 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute rather than something base-10.