mica

Borrowed from Latin mīca (“grain, crumb”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪ.kə/, enPR: mīkə
• Rhymes: -aɪkə

mica (countable and uncountable, plural micas)

1. (mineralogy) Any of a group of hydrous aluminosilicate minerals characterized by highly perfect cleavage, so that they readily separate into very thin leaves, more or less elastic.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], OCLC 1042815524, part I, page 214:

     His little eyes glittered like mica discs with curiosity, though he tried to keep up a bit of superciliousness.

• Formica

• biotite
• lepidolite
• muscovite
• paragonite
• phlogopite

• mica on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• -amic, -icam, ACMI, CIMA, CMIA, Maci, aMCI, amic, cami, cima, iMac

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ka/

From Old Catalan mica, from Vulgar Latin *mīcca, from Latin mīca (“crumb”) with expression gemination of /k/. Compare Occitan mica.

mica f (plural miques)

1. a bit, a small piece

• de mica en mica
• miqueta
• una mica
• una mica de

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

mica f (plural miques)

1. (mineralogy) mica

• “mica” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mica”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “mica” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “mica” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mi‧ca

mica n (plural mica's)

1. (mineralogy) mica

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

• Audio

  (file)

mica f (plural micas)

1. (mineralogy) mica

• “mica”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

mica f (uncountable)

1. (mineralogy) mica

• IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ka/
• Rhymes: -ika
• Hyphenation: mì‧ca

From Latin mīca, from Proto-Italic *smīkā, from Proto-Indo-European *smeyg- (“small, thin, delicate”).

mica f (plural miche)

1. (archaic or literary) breadcrumb
2. (by extension) bit, morsel

   Synonym: minuzzolo

• micella

mica

1. (colloquial) not

   Mica male! ― Not bad!

2. (colloquial) hardly, you know

   Mica sono stupido

   I’m hardly stupid; I’m not stupid, you know

3. (colloquial) bit

   Non è mica cambiato ― It hasn't changed one bit

4. (colloquial) at all

   Non costa mica molto ― It is not at all expensive

5. (colloquial) by any chance

   Non hai mica trovato il mio portafoglio?

   Have you seen my wallet by any chance?

Borrowed from Latin mīca, the same source as the above.

mica f (plural miche)

1. (mineralogy) mica (mineral)

• cami, cima

• mīcca (attested in 1485, Du Cange)

Uncertain:

• traditionally derived from Proto-Italic *smīkā, from Proto-Indo-European *smeyg- (“small, thin, delicate”), related to Ancient Greek (σ)μῑκρός ((s)mīkrós) and smicker - 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, Calabrian miccu, 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.[1]

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmiː.ka/, [ˈmiːkä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ka/, [ˈmiːkä]

mīca f (genitive mīcae); first declension

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

First-declension noun.

• mīcārius
• mīcidus
• mīcīna
• mīcula
• mīcō

• “mīca” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “mīca”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 378

• “mica”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mica”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mica in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• mica in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

Borrowed from Latin mīca. Compare the inherited doublet miga.

mica f (plural micas)

1. (mineralogy) mica (hydrous aluminosilicate mineral)

• micela
• miga
• migalha

mica

1. inflection of micar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): [ˈmi.ka]

mica

1. definite nominative/accusative feminine singular of mic

Borrowed from Latin mīca. Compare the inherited doublet miga.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmika/ [ˈmi.ka]
• Rhymes: -ika
• Syllabification: mi‧ca

mica f (plural micas)

1. (mineralogy) mica

• micáceo
• miga, migaja

• “mica”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014