minion
English
Etymology
1490, from Middle French mignon (“lover, royal favourite, darling”), from Old French mignon (“dainty, pleasing, gentle, kind”), from Frankish *minnju (“love, friendship, affection, memory”), from Proto-Germanic *minþijō, *mindijō (“affectionate thought, care”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɪnjən/
Audio (RP) (file) - Homophone: minyan
- Rhymes: -ɪnjən
- Hyphenation: min‧ion
Noun
minion (countable and uncountable, plural minions)
- A loyal servant of another, usually a more powerful being.
- Synonyms: disciple, follower; see also Thesaurus:loyal follower
- 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184:
- In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.
- The archvillain deployed his minions to simultaneously rob every bank in the city.
- A sycophantic follower.
- (obsolete) A loved one; one highly esteemed and favoured.
- 1608, Josuah Sylvester, Du Bartas his divine weekes and workes
- God's disciple and his dearest minion
- c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:
- Is this the Athenian minion whom the world / Voiced so regardfully?
- 1608, Josuah Sylvester, Du Bartas his divine weekes and workes
- (obsolete) An ancient form of ordnance with a calibre of about three inches.
- 1647, Francis Beaumont, Philip Massinger, The Double Marriage (play), published 1717, page 19:
- Gun. My Cannons rung like Bells. Here's to my Mistress, The dainty sweet brass Minion: split their Fore-mast, She never fail'd.
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- (uncountable, typography, printing) The size of type between nonpareil and brevier, standardized as 7-point.
- Obsolete form of minium.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:
- Of philosophers and scholars priscae sapientiae dictatores, I have already spoken in general terms, those superintendents of wit and learning, men above men, those refined men, minions of the muses.
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Derived terms
- miniondom
- (type size): minionette
- minionhood
- minioning
- minionish
- minionlike
- minionly
- minionship
Translations
loyal servant of another more powerful being
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sycophantic follower
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7-point type
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Adjective
minion (comparative more minion, superlative most minion)
- (obsolete) Favoured, beloved; "pet".
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book 1, p.148, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- These favours, with the commodities that follow minion Courtiers, corrupt […] his libertie, and dazle his judgement.
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Chuukese
Etymology
Borrowed from English million.
Numeral
minion
- million
Welsh
Etymology
From min + -ion.
Noun
minion
- plural of min
Mutation
Welsh mutation | |||
---|---|---|---|
radical | soft | nasal | aspirate |
minion | finion | unchanged | unchanged |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |