Minimal means very small in degree or amount — often the smallest amount that still counts, or so little it is almost nothing. “The damage was minimal” means there was hardly any. “Minimal effort” means as little effort as you can get away with. “A minimal risk” means the risk is tiny. It is a slightly formal, tidy adjective: news, school essays, reports, instructions. In everyday talk people also say very little, almost none, or hardly any. Designers and artists use it in a second, related way: a minimal look keeps only what is needed — clean, spare, not busy. That is close to 極簡. Both uses share the idea “as little as possible”. Minimal is not a noun. The noun for “the least amount” is minimum. “A minimal of time” is the usual student slip; we say “a minimum of time” or “minimal time”. You can have minimal contact, minimal cost, minimal fuss. It does not mean “small in size” the way mini- does on a minibus. It is about degree: how much, how strong, how far — not how many centimetres.