minusowy

Minusowy is a Polish adjective formed from minus. It is used to describe something associated with the minus sign, subtraction, or a negative value. In everyday language it can modify nouns such as temperatura, wynik, wartość, or różnica to indicate that they are below zero or involve subtraction. In formal contexts, the more neutral term is typically ujemny, but minusowy remains common in teaching materials, journalism, and casual speech.

Etymology and usage notes: The suffix -owy creates adjectives that express relation or characteristic. Minusowy therefore denotes something pertaining to a minus or negative aspect. Although often interchangeable with ujemny in many contexts, minusowy is more frequent in informal speech and in specific technical or educational phrases.

Practical examples: Minusowa temperatura describes temperatures below zero. Minusowy wynik finansowy signals a financial loss. A minusowa różnica indicates a negative difference between two values. In technical writing, writers may encounter phrases like wartość minusowa to refer to negative values on a graph or dataset.

See also: minus, liczby ujemne, odejmowanie, ujemny.