# mica
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmaɪ.kə/, enPR: mīkə
* Rhymes: -aɪkə

### Noun

mica (countable and uncountable, plural micas)
* (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, part I, page 214:His little eyes glittered like mica discs with curiosity, though he tried to keep up a bit of superciliousness.

#### Derived terms

* Formica
* mica-schist

#### Translations
### See also

* biotite
* lepidolite
* muscovite
* paragonite
* phlogopite

### Further reading

* mica on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

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

## Aragonese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmika/
* Rhymes: -ika
* Syllabification: mi‧ca

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

mica f
* a bit, a small piece

#### Adverb

mica
* a bit, few
* (in negative phrases) at all
    No me fa mica goi. ― I don't like it at all.
* any
    No gastes mica d’aceite ― Don't use any oil
    No queda mica de sal. ― There isn't any salt left.

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

#### Noun

mica f
* (mineralogy) mica

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈmi.kə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈmi.ka]

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

mica f (plural miques)
* a bit, a small piece

##### Derived terms

* de mica en mica
* miqueta
* una mica
* una mica de

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

#### Noun

mica f (plural miques)
* (mineralogy) mica

### References

* “mica” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “mica”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “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.

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mīca.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: mi‧ca

### Noun

mica n (plural mica's)
* (mineralogy) mica

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mīca. Doublet of mie and miche.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

mica f (plural micas)
* (mineralogy) mica

#### Derived terms

* micaschiste

### Further reading

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

## Galician
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mīca.

### Noun

mica f (uncountable)
* (mineralogy) mica

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmi.ka/
* Rhymes: -ika
* Hyphenation: mì‧ca

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

mica f (plural miche)
* (archaic or literary) breadcrumb
* (by extension) bit, morsel
    Synonym: minuzzolo

##### Related terms

* micella

#### Adverb

mica
* (colloquial) not
    Mica male! ― Not bad!
* (colloquial) hardly, you know
    Mica sono stupidoI’m hardly stupid; I’m not stupid, you know
* (colloquial) bit
    Non è mica cambiato ― It hasn't changed one bit
* (colloquial) at all
    Non costa mica molto ― It is not at all expensive
* (colloquial) by any chance
    Non hai mica trovato il mio portafoglio?Have you seen my wallet by any chance?

### Etymology 2

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

#### Noun

mica f (plural miche)
* (mineralogy) mica (mineral)

### Anagrams

* cami, cima

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* mīcca (attested in 1485, Du Cange)

### Etymology

Uncertain:
* traditionally derived from Proto-Italic *(s)mīkā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyk- (“small, thin, delicate”), related to Ancient Greek (σ)μῑκρός ((s)mīkrós) – 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, Neapolitan miccu, Calabrian/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.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmiː.ka/, [ˈmiːkä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈmi.ka/, [ˈmiːkä]

### Noun

mīca f (genitive mīcae); first declension
* a grain (esp. a glittering one: of salt, marble, etc.), crumb
* (Medieval Latin, Gallia) a miche (a round loaf of brown bread)
* (New Latin, mineralogy) mica

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* mīcārius
* mīcidus
* mīcīna
* mīcula
* mīcō

#### Descendants

* Eastern Romance:
** Romanian: mică
* Italian: mica
* Old French: mie
** French: mie
* Old Galician-Portuguese: miga
** Galician: miga
** Portuguese: miga
* Old Spanish: miga
** Spanish: miga
* → English: mica
* → French: mica
* → Galician: mica
* → Portuguese: mica
* → Spanish: mica
* ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *mīcca
** Aragonese: mica (in no mica "not")
** Old French: miche
*** French: miche
*** → Basque: mitsika
*** → Breton: méchen
*** → Portuguese: micha
** Italian: frammica (“crumb”) (Marche)
** Ligurian: micca (“a small loaf”) (Genoa)
** Piedmontese: mica
** Old Occitan:
*** Catalan: mica
*** Occitan: mica
** → Alemannic German: Miigge
** → Dutch: mik
** → West Frisian: mik

### References

* “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
* ↑ Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “mīca”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 6/2: Mercatio–Mneme, page 76

### Further reading

* “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.

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmi.kɐ/
* Hyphenation: mi‧ca

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin mīca. Doublet of miga.

#### Noun

mica f (plural micas)
* (mineralogy) mica (hydrous aluminosilicate mineral)
    Synonym: (Brazil) malacacheta
* (Portugal) sheet protector (clear plastic sleeve for documents)
* (electronics) mica insulator
** (by extension) any such insulator
    mica de siliconesilicone insulator
* a little bit, crum
* (Portugal, regional) goat

##### Related terms

* micela
* miga
* migalha

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

mica
* inflection of micar:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

### References

* “mica”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
* “mica”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
* “mica”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
* “mica” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913

## Romanian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈmi.ka]
* Rhymes: -ikɐ

### Adjective

mica
* definite nominative/accusative feminine singular of mic

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mīca. Compare the inherited doublet miga.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmika/ [ˈmi.ka]
* Rhymes: -ika
* Syllabification: mi‧ca

### Noun

mica f (plural micas)
* (mineralogy) mica
* (playground games, uncountable, El Salvador) tag, it (children's chasing game)

#### Related terms

* micáceo
* miga, migaja

### Further reading

* “mica”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
* “mica”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
* ¿Recuerdas cómo te divertías de pequeño? Estos son los juegos más tradicionales en El Salvador – Diario El Salvador
* Los juegos tradicionales de El Salvador de nuestra infancia | Guanacos