Diminished

How to spell diminished

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce diminished

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does diminished mean?

1. verbMade or became smaller, fewer, or less important.
2. adjectiveDescribing a musical interval or chord lowered by a semitone from the minor or perfect form.

Diminished in a sentence

• verb

  The long illness had diminished his appetite for work.

• adjective

  The piece ends on a tense diminished seventh chord.

• verb

  Steady inflation diminished the value of their savings.

• adjective

  The teacher explained how a diminished fifth sounds unstable.

Where does diminished come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb deminuere, meaning 'to make smaller' or 'to lessen', which was built on minuere, 'to reduce', from minus, 'less' or 'small'. It passed into Old French as diminuer and entered English in the late 1300s, where it blended with an older English verb 'minish' (also from the same Latin family) to give the familiar form 'diminish'. The same tiny root min lies behind a whole cluster of everyday words such as 'minor', 'minute', 'minus', and 'minimum', all carrying the idea of smallness. The spelling trap is the single m followed by the doubled n in '-min-ish', and the unstressed vowels around the stressed second syllable, which is why writers sometimes hesitate over the letters. The '-ed' simply marks it as the past tense and participle, and that participle is also widely used as an adjective.

How the word is built

• di- (intensive, from Latin de-)
• min (root meaning small, from Latin minuere 'to make smaller')
• -ish (verb-forming, via Old French)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)