the.com/miniseries

means A dramatic production made and broadcast as a short, fixed sequence of episodes rather than an open-ended ongoing series.

from A straightforward 20th-century compound: 'mini-' (from miniature, itself traceable to Latin 'minium,' the red pigment once used to illustrate manuscripts, which bled into meaning 'small' via 'miniature painting') bolted onto 'series' (Latin 'series,' a row or succession, from 'serere,' to join or link). Television put the two together to label a show that commits upfront to a finite run — born largely out of broadcast scheduling needs, it became shorthand for a story that knows its own ending.