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mignon (min-YON, mee-NYAWN) - adj., small, delicate, dainty, cute. n., a cute person, a pretty child.
In French (from which it was borrowed in the 1550s), it's an adjective meaning delicate/charming/pretty, older meanings lover/darling/favorite, going back to Frankish/Germanic roots and thence PIE *men- with a sense of something dwelt upon -- a cognate of mind and mental. For some reason, when used attributively in English, it's often post-positively, as in filet mignon.
---L.
In French (from which it was borrowed in the 1550s), it's an adjective meaning delicate/charming/pretty, older meanings lover/darling/favorite, going back to Frankish/Germanic roots and thence PIE *men- with a sense of something dwelt upon -- a cognate of mind and mental. For some reason, when used attributively in English, it's often post-positively, as in filet mignon.
---L.
