Mini- is a prefix meaning small or miniature. When you add it to the front of a word, you create a smaller version of something. A mini-golf course has tiny windmills and obstacles instead of full-sized fairways. A minivan is smaller than a full-sized van but bigger than a regular car. A mini-mart is a small convenience store, not a huge supermarket.

Companies use it in product names: mini-muffins, mini-pizzas, or the Mac Mini computer. Sometimes mini- suggests something is conveniently sized, like when a hotel offers mini-bottles of shampoo. Other times it just means a scaled-down version, like a miniature poodle.

You'll see mini- attached to all kinds of words. A mini-lesson takes just a few minutes. A mini-series on television runs for only a few episodes instead of multiple seasons. When someone describes having a mini-crisis or a mini-adventure, they mean a small-scale version of the real thing.