Minime

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tiny, scaled-down copy of a person or thing that closely resembles the original it was modelled on
2. A small replica of a person, often a close companion or follower who looks or acts much like the original
3. Someone or something that is a diminutive double of a larger figure, usually made to echo its appearance

Etymology: "Minime" is a short, playful coinage built on "mini" and "me," and its story is largely one of pop culture. The "mini-me" sense of a small copy of a person is generally traced to the 1997 film "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," in which Dr. Evil's tiny, cloned look-alike is called Mini-Me. The character's name lent the phrase to everyday speech as a label for a small duplicate of someone, usually a child who mirrors a parent or a junior colleague who imitates a boss. The form "minime" is a further step: the name was clipped into a single word, following the pattern of other brand-like or informal coinages. Its parts are plain. "Mini" comes from the Latin "minimus," meaning "smallest," which reached English through the adjective "mini" applied to small things, and "me" is the ordinary English pronoun, here used to suggest a self-copy.