miniatur

Miniatur, or miniature, is a term used to describe objects, works, or phenomena that are small in scale compared with the standard or life size. It is used in several languages, notably German (Miniatur) and Dutch, and in English where the form miniature is common. The concept spans art, design, music, and technology.

The word derives from Latin minutus "small," via French miniature and Italian miniatura, with the sense broadened in the 16th–18th centuries to include small-scale paintings and other works.

In visual arts, a miniature is a small, highly detailed work. In Western medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, miniatures are the painted illustrations integrated with text. The tradition extends to Islamic, Persian, Mughal, and Rajput miniature painting, each with distinct styles and subjects.

In music, miniatures are short pieces intended to capture a moment or mood, such as piano miniatures by Romantic composers. In literature, the term is used for compact prose pieces, micro-stories, or short poems that aim for precision and compression.

In crafts and hobbyist contexts, miniatures include scale models of buildings, figures, and dioramas, where careful proportion and detail recreate a larger subject at a small size.

In science and industry, miniaturization describes processes that make devices smaller while preserving function, contributing to advancements in electronics, optics, and biotechnology.