- minimum
- 1663 (n.) "smallest portion into which matter is divisible," from L. minimum "smallest" (thing), neut. of minimus "smallest," superl. of minor "smaller" (see minor). The adj. is first attested 1810. Minimal "smallest, least" is from 1666. Minimalist first recorded 1907, originally an Anglicization of Menshevik (q.v.); in sense of "practitioner of minimal art" it is first recorded 1967; the term minimal art is from 1965. Minimize first recorded 1802 in Bentham.