micro

The word “micro” means very small in size, scale, or scope. In plain terms, a word for anything tiny or on a very small scale — used both on its own and as a prefix in words like microwave and microscope.

“Micro” is pronounced MEYE-kroh (/ˈmaɪ.kɹoʊ/ in IPA).

Here is “micro” used in a sentence: “The company started with a micro budget and grew from there.”

“Micro” is an adjective.

The word “micro” comes from Greek. From the Greek prefix "micro-," meaning "small," which was later clipped off to stand as its own adjective in casual English.

“Micro” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B2 level.

They are opposites: micro means very small in size, scale, or scope, while macro means large-scale or overall. The contrast is common in fields like economics, where microeconomics studies individual households and firms and macroeconomics studies whole economies.

Both. As a prefix it forms words like microscope and microchip, but micro also works as an adjective in its own right meaning very small in size, scale, or scope: "a micro apartment", "at a micro level". Dictionaries list this standalone adjective use as standard.

Most established micro- compounds are written as one word: microwave, microscope, microclimate, microeconomics. A hyphen appears mainly where the next element begins with a vowel that could cause misreading, as in "micro-organism", which is common in British English, or in new one-off coinages. When micro stands alone as an adjective, no hyphen is used: "a micro flat".