Minimalist

How to spell minimalist

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce minimalist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does minimalist mean?

1. nounA person who favours keeping things spare, simple, and reduced to essentials, especially in art, design, or lifestyle.
2. adjectiveRelating to a spare, stripped-down style that uses only what is essential.

Minimalist in a sentence

• noun

  As a committed minimalist, she owns only thirty items of clothing.

• adjective

  The apartment had a minimalist interior with bare walls and a single chair.

• noun

  The architect was a minimalist who hated clutter and ornament.

• adjective

  Their new logo took a minimalist approach, just two thin lines.

Where does minimalist come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows from the Latin minimus, meaning 'smallest' or 'least', which is the superlative of parvus 'small'. From minimus came the noun 'minim', once a tiny unit of measure and a short musical note, and the adjective 'minimal', describing the least possible amount. The suffix -ist, from the Greek -istes, marks a person who practises or champions something, so a minimalist is one who favours reducing things to their barest essentials. The term gained real currency in the twentieth century, first in art and music during the 1960s for stripped-down, spare styles, and later in everyday talk about decluttered living. The same minim- root sits inside 'minimum' and 'diminish', and remembering that single 'm' in the middle (mi-ni-) helps guard against doubling it by mistake.

How the word is built

• minim- (from Latin minimus: smallest)
• -al (adjective)
• -ist (one who practises or favours)