喜樂美語

A thing that keeps every detail of the full-size original, but has been shrunk down so it fits in your hand — small on purpose, not small by accident.

一個東西被「等比例縮小」了。它不是殘缺的、不是簡化的，該有的細節一樣不少，只是整體尺寸被縮到掌心大小——像模型火車、迷你玫瑰、娃娃屋裡的椅子。重點在「縮小」這個動作本身是刻意的：有人特意把完整的東西做成小版本，所以你看它的時候，心裡同時看見的是那個原本的大東西。

From the word’s history

From Italian *miniatura* — the art of illuminating a manuscript — from Latin *miniare*, to colour with *minium* (red lead). The link to smallness is secondary: manuscript illuminations happened to be tiny, and English speakers heard the *min-* and connected it to *minor*/*minute*, so the word slid from "illuminated picture" to "very small thing".

這個字的來源其實跟「小」沒關係。拉丁文 minium 是一種紅色顏料（鉛丹），miniare 是「用紅色顏料上色」，義大利文 miniatura 指的是中世紀手抄本上的彩繪插圖。因為那些插圖本來就畫得很小，加上英語使用者聽到 min- 就自然聯想到 minor、minute 這些「小」的字，意思就整個滑過去了——從「彩繪插圖」變成「很小的東西」。所以 miniature 的「袖珍畫」這個意思，反而是離字源最近的一個。

Wiktionary: miniature (from Italian miniatura, from Latin miniare, from minium 'red lead'); the sense 'small' arose by association with Latin minor/minutus

One branch

縮小版的東西

登入就可以看這一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

miniature (very small) · adjective · C2

Much smaller than the usual size. Used before a noun for a thing made small, or an animal bred to stay very small.

微型

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

同家族的字

複數 miniatures

用法接近

littlepocket-sizecopyreplicascale modellikenesscameosamplevial

原始詞典資料12 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

miniaturenoun/ˈmɪn.ɪ.tʃə/

  • 1

    Greatly diminished size or form; reduced scale.

  • 2

    A small version of something; a model of reduced scale.

    • There was a miniature of a whaling ship in a glass bottle over the mantelpiece.
    • The twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany are conceived as a miniature of the whole year, the character of each particular day answering to the character of a particular month.
  • 3

    A small, highly detailed painting, a portrait miniature.

    • The miniature was a picture of Leo's Greek mother - a lovely, dark-eyed creature.
  • 4

    The art of painting such highly detailed miniature works.

  • 5

    An illustration in an illuminated manuscript.

  • 6

    A musical composition which is short in duration.

    • Sacha composed a miniature for strings as a final project at the conservatory.
  • 7

    board-gameschessgamesA chess game which is concluded with very few moves.

  • 8

    A token in a game representing a unit or character.

    • Jack had dozens of miniatures of Napoleonic footsoldiers painted in detailed period regalia for his wargames.
另外 2 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    Lettering in red; rubric distinction.

  • 10

    A particular feature or trait.

    • There's no miniature / In her fair face, but is a copious theme / Which would, discoursed at large of, make a volume.

miniatureadj/ˈmɪn.ɪ.tʃə/

  • 1

    Smaller than normal.

    • I find miniature dogs annoying; they seem to yap more than full-size dogs.
    • Scientists have grown miniature human brains in test tubes, creating a "tool" that will allow them to watch how the organs develop in the womb and, they hope, increase their understanding of neurological and mental problems. ¶ Just a few millimetres across, the "cerebral organoids" are built up of layers of brain cells with defined regions that resemble those seen in immature, embryonic brains.

miniatureverb/ˈmɪn.ɪ.tʃə/

  • 1

    To make smaller than normal; to reproduce in miniature.

    • If it be ever so little removed, or seen thro’ the miniaturing End of the Perspective Glass, it either wholly escapes their Sight, or appears to them a mere Minutity.
    • The smile of the babe was in my eye, and in my heart. I saw miniatur’d forth, the features of the murdered Edward.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。