minion

English

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minion

Wikipedia

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”). Doublet of mignon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪnjən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (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

   The archvillain deployed his minions to simultaneously rob every bank in the city.

   • 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.

2. A sycophantic follower.
3. (uncountable, typography, printing) The size of type between nonpareil and brevier, standardized as 7-point.
4. (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 (date written), 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, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Is this the Athenian minion whom the world / Voiced so regardfully?

5. (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.

6. Obsolete form of minium.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     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 — see also henchman,‎ sidekick

Albanian: favorit Arabic: تَابِع (tābiʕ) Azerbaijani: sevimli (az) Bulgarian: фаворит (bg) (favorit) Catalan: adlàter, esbirro m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 奴才 (zh) (núcái)，奴仆 (zh) (núpú) Czech: oblíbenec (cs) 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: (please verify) [script needed] (wafadar) Hungarian: csatlós (hu), samesz (hu), fogdmeg (hu) Icelandic: skósveinn m Indonesian: kaki tangan (id), antek (id) Italian: lacché m or f Japanese: 子分 (ja) (こぶん, kobun) Korean: 앞잡이 (ko) (apjabi) Latin: satelles (la) m or f 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), приспе́шник (ru) m (prispéšnik) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: штићеник, љубимац Roman: štićenik, ljubimac (sh) Slovak: obľúbenec m Spanish: lacayo m, súbdito (es) m, sirviente (es) m, subalterno (es) m, secuaz (es) m or f, miñón m 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, pachołek (pl) m Russian: холу́й (ru) m (xolúj) Serbo-Croatian: poslušnik (sh) m Spanish: acólito (es) m, sicofante (es), sicofanta (es) f

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 f, glosilla f

Adjective

minion (comparative more minion, superlative most minion)

1. (obsolete) Favoured, beloved; "pet".
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], book 1, P.148, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     These favours, with the commodities that follow minion Courtiers, corrupt […] his libertie, and dazle his judgement.

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from English million.

Numeral

minion

1. million

Welsh

Etymology

From min +‎ -ion.

Noun

minion

1. plural of min

Mutation

Mutated forms of minion

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
minion	finion	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.