micro-

See also: micro and Micro

Translingual

Etymology

From New Latin micro- (“small”), from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Prefix

micro-

1. Very small.

   ‎micro- + ‎Cebus → ‎Microcebus

Synonyms

• (units): μ- (abbreviation)

Derived terms

Translingual terms prefixed with micro-

English

Pronunciation

• (stress on first syllable; e.g., microscope) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪkɹə-/, /ˈmaɪkɹoʊ-/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (stress on second syllable; e.g., microscopy) IPA^(key): /maɪˈkɹɒ-/

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mey-der.?

Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós)der.

English micro-

Prefix

SI prefix

µ	Previous:	nano-
	Next:	milli-

micro-

1. (diminutive) Very small.

   ‎micro- + ‎organism → ‎microorganism

3. (metric units) One millionth.

   ‎micro- + ‎gram → ‎microgram

Usage notes

• (one millionth): Officially, micro- is abbreviated as µ- (the Greek letter mu); for example, one second is 1s, so one microsecond is 1µs. However, for many purposes this is inconvenient, so writers often use either u- (for its similar appearance to µ-) or mc-, producing, for example, 1um (one micrometer) and 1mcg (one microgram).

Synonyms

• (diminutive): mini-, nano-, -ette, -ee, -y, -icle/-cule/-ule/-ole

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “diminutive”): super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, macro-, arch-, over-, mega-, giga-, -zilla, grand, great

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with micro-

• microinverse
• microlateral
• microlog
• micronormal

 

English terms prefixed with micro- (millionth)

Translations

very small

• Afrikaans: mikro-
• Armenian: միկրո- (mikro-)
• Belarusian: мікра- (mikra-)
• Bulgarian: микро- (mikro-)
• Catalan: micro- (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微- (zh) (wēi-)

• Czech: mikro- (cs)
• Dutch: micro- (nl)
• Esperanto: mikro-
• Finnish: mikro- (fi)
• French: micro- (fr)
• Galician: micro- (gl)
• Georgian: მიკრო- (miḳro-)
• German: mikro- (de)
• Greek: μικρο- (el) (mikro-)
• Hebrew: מיקרו־ (he) (míkro-), מיקרו (míkro)
• Hungarian: mikro- (hu)
• Irish: micri-
• Italian: micro- (it)
• Japanese: マイクロ- (maikuro-)
• Malay: mikro- (ms)
• Occitan: micro-
• Polish: mikro- (pl)
• Portuguese: micro- (pt)
• Russian: микро- (ru) (mikro-)
• Slovene: mikro-
• Spanish: micro- (es)
• Swedish: mikro- (sv)
• Turkish: mikro-

one millionth

• Afrikaans: mikro-
• Armenian: միկրո- (mikro-)
• Belarusian: мікра- (mikra-)
• Bulgarian: микро- (mikro-)
• Catalan: micro- (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微- (zh) (wēi-)

• Czech: mikro- (cs)
• Dutch: micro- (nl)
• Esperanto: mikro-
• Finnish: mikro- (fi)
• French: micro- (fr)
• Galician: micro- (gl)
• Georgian: მიკრო- (miḳro-)
• German: mikro- (de)
• Greek: μικρο- (el) (mikro-)
• Hebrew: מיקרו־ (he) (míkro-), מיקרו (míkro)
• Hungarian: mikro- (hu)
• Icelandic: míkró-
• Indonesian: mikro- (id)
• Italian: micro- (it)
• Japanese: マイクロ (ja) (maikuro)
• Malay: mikro- (ms)
• Occitan: micro-
• Polish: mikro- (pl)
• Portuguese: micro- (pt)
• Russian: микро- (ru) (mikro-)
• Slovene: mikro-
• Spanish: micro- (es)
• Swedish: mikro- (sv)
• Tagalog: mik-
• Turkish: mikro-

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 微 (zh) (wēi)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} సూక్ష్మ (te) (sūkṣma)

Etymology 2

Clipping of micronation.

Prefix

micro-

2. (micronationalism) Pertaining to an aspect of micronationalism; micronational.

   ‎micro- + ‎wiki → ‎MicroWiki

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with micro- (micronationalism)

Anagrams

• Romic, cormi, moric

Catalan

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈi]

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

   Antonym: macro-

Derived terms

Catalan terms prefixed with micro-

Further reading

• “micro-” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “micro-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “micro-” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “micro-” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

From New Latin micro- (“small”), from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

Derived terms

Dutch terms prefixed with micro-

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

Derived terms

French terms prefixed with micro-

Further reading

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

Galician

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

   Antonym: macro-

Derived terms

Galician terms prefixed with micro-

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

   Antonym: macro-

Derived terms

Italian terms prefixed with micro-

Anagrams

• cromi

Occitan

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

Derived terms

Occitan terms prefixed with micro-

Portuguese

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Prefix

micro-

1. micro- (very small)
2. (metric units) micro- (one millionth)

Derived terms

Portuguese terms prefixed with micro-

Spanish

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”).

Prefix

micro-

1. micro-

   Antonym: macro-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with micro-

Further reading

• “micro-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28