minion

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)

1. 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.

2. A sycophantic follower.
3. (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?

4. (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.

5. (uncountable, typography, printing) The size of type between nonpareil and brevier, standardized as 7-point.
6. 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.

Derived terms

• miniondom
• (type size): minionette
• minionhood
• minioning
• minionish
• minionlike
• minionly
• minionship

 

Translations

loyal servant of another more powerful being

Albanian: favorit Arabic: تَابِع‎ (tābiʿ) Azerbaijani: sevimli (az) Bulgarian: фаворит (bg) (favorit) Catalan: adlàter Chinese: Mandarin: 奴才 (zh) (núcái)，奴仆 (zh) (núpú) Czech: oblíbenec Danish: håndlanger c Dutch: ondergeschikte (nl) Esperanto: sbiro Estonian: käsilane Finnish: käskyläinen (fi) French: subalterne (fr) m or f, sous-fifre (fr) m, séide (fr) m Galician: lacaio German: Ergebener m, Untergebener (de) m, Lakai (de) m Greek: ακόλουθος (el) m (akólouthos), ευνοούμενος (el) m (evnooúmenos) Hebrew: מְשָׁרֵת‎ (he) Hindi: wafadar (wafadar) Hungarian: csatlós (hu), samesz (hu), fogdmeg (hu) Indonesian: kaki tangan (id), antek (id) Japanese: 子分 (こぶん, kobun) Korean: 앞잡이 (ko) (apjabi) Latvian: mīlulis Malay: orang suruhan Mongolian: шадар (mn) (šadar) Polish: sługa (pl) m pers Portuguese: favorito (pt), lacaio (pt) m Romanian: răsfățat (ro) Russian: ве́рный слуга́ m (vérnyj slugá), шестёрка (ru) (šestjórka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: штићеник, љубимац Roman: štićenik, ljubimac (sh) Slovak: obľúbenec m Spanish: lacayo, súbdito (es), sirviente (es), subalterno (es) Swedish: hejduk (sv) c, skyddsling (sv) c, tjänare (sv) c, underlydare c Tagalog: kampon (tl), alagad (tl) Thai: ลูกสมุน, สมุน (th) (sà-mǔn), ลิ่วล้อ (th) (lîu-lɔ́ɔ), ข้าราชการผู้น้อย (kâa râat-chá-gaan pôo nói) Turkish: dalkavuk (tr) Ukrainian: фавори́т m (favorýt) Vietnamese: kẻ nô lệ

sycophantic follower

Bulgarian: раболепен слуга (rabolepen sluga) Dutch: slaafs volgeling, hielenlikker (nl) Finnish: lakeija (fi); perseennuolija (fi) (vulgar) French: laquais (fr) German: Günstling (de) m Hungarian: tányérnyaló (hu), talpnyaló (hu), kegyenc (hu) Indonesian: kacung (id) Italian: tirapiedi (it) m Polish: pomagier (pl) m pers, sługus (pl) m pers Serbo-Croatian: poslušnik (sh) m Spanish: acólito (es), sicario (es), sicofante (es)

7-point type

Catalan: glossilla (ca) f Dutch: kolonel (nl) French: mignone, mignonne (fr) German: Kolonel m, Colonel, Mignon (de) Hungarian: kolonel (hu) Spanish: miñona, glosilla

Adjective

minion (comparative more minion, superlative most minion)

1. (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

1. million

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Welsh

Etymology

From min +‎ -ion.

Noun

minion

1. 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.