mince

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to cut into very small pieces; or to walk with affected daintiness

   He did not mince words when criticizing the plan.

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Simplified etymology

Mince ultimately derives from Latin minutus, “small,” the source also of minute, menu, and diminish. Its culinary sense developed through minced meat in the late 16th century and mincemeat in the mid-17th; its figurative senses involved making something slight or expressing it with affected restraint, as preserved in not mince your words.

From Old French mincier 'to cut into small pieces', from Vulgar Latin *minutiāre, from Latin minūtia 'small particle', from minūtus 'small', from minuere 'to lessen'.

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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