mica

Meaning

1. (declension-1) a grain (esp. a glittering one: of salt, marble, etc.), crumb
2. (Medieval-Latin, declension-1) a miche (a round loaf of brown bread)
3. (New-Latin, declension-1) mica

Concepts

crumb

morsel

piece

small loaf

grain

chip

bit

Synonyms

frustum

pars

fragmentum

Translations

morceau

stuk

deel

parça

pedazo

Stück

1️⃣

pedaço

κομμάτι

Stückchen

peça

fragment

bout

🔚

boccone

briciola

part

Pronounced as (IPA)

[ˈmiː.ka]

Etymology

Uncertain:
* traditionally derived from Proto-Italic *(s)mīkā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyk- (“small, thin, delicate”), related to Ancient Greek (σ)μῑκρός ((s)mīkrós) – details there.
* in view of meaning (1), De Vaan (2008) with Nyman (1987) prefer Proto-Italic *meikā (“a glittering particle”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyk- (“to blink”), whence also micō.
Attested from Cato onwards.
A number of Romance forms, e.g. Romanian mic, Neapolitan miccu, Calabrian/Sicilian miccu, reflect an unattested adjective *mīccus. This is probably unrelated, being a borrowing from Ancient Greek μῑκκός (mīkkós), variant of μῑκρός (mīkrós, “small”); the form *mīcca is associated with the meaning “loaf of bread” particularly in Gallo-Romance and Gallo-Italic.