minette

English

Noun

minette (plural minettes)

1. (dated) The smallest of regular sizes of portrait photographs.
   • 1893, Columbian Exposition Dedication Ceremonies Memorial:

     The title page bears a minette portrait of the Duke being crowned by the hand of an ideal figure of Chicago, and below are the coat-of-arms and motto of the Duke's house.

   • 1981, Lou W. McCulloch, Card Photographs: A Guide to Their History and Value, page 161:

     […] there were hundreds of other sizes of photographic prints ranging from a minette novelty to mammoth views.

2. (mineralogy) A mineral deposit consisting of iron ore of sedimentary origin, found in the south of Luxembourg and in Lorraine.
   • 1977, Navajo Kimberlites and Minettes:

     The minettes of Buell Mountain are felsic, and many contain ground-mass quartz.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.nɛt/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From minet.

Noun

minette f (plural minettes, masculine minet)

1. female equivalent of minet: female kitten

   Synonym: minet

2. female puss, female pussycat
3. (colloquial) cool chick, very young girl
   • 1995, Jean-Claude Izzo, Total Khéops:

     Malgré ses quarante ans, elle pouvait sans honte s’aligner devant des flopées de minettes.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1996, “Rimes féminines”, in Rimes féminines, performed by Juliette:

     Permettez à votre Juliette / De ne point mûrir en minette / Mais en Colette / En Mistinguett / Ou pourquoi pas madame de Lafayette

     Don't make your Juliette / Grow up to be just some hot chick / Instead let her be Colette / Mistinguett / Or why not Madame de La Fayette

4. (slang) muff diving, cunnilingus

   faire la minette ― to go down on (a woman)

Derived terms

• faire minette

Descendants

• → Dutch: minetten (“cunnilingus”) (Flemish and Limburgish)
• → Russian: мине́т (minét, “blowjob”)
  • → Armenian: մինետ (minet, “blowjob”)
  • → Georgian: მინეტი (mineṭi, “blowjob”)
  • → Estonian: minett (“blowjob”)
• → Polish: mineta (“cunnilingus”)
• → Portuguese: minete (“cunnilingus”)

Etymology 2

From mine +‎ -ette.

Noun

minette f (plural minettes)

1. (mineralogy) Kind of iron mineral

Further reading

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