English edit

 
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Etymology edit

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 edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɪnjən/
  • (file)
  • Homophone: minyan
  • Rhymes: -ɪnjən
  • Hyphenation: min‧ion

Noun edit

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. (obsolete) A loved one; one highly esteemed and favoured.
  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:
      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 edit

Translations edit

Adjective edit

minion (comparative more minion, superlative most minion)

  1. (obsolete) Favoured, beloved; "pet".

Chuukese edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from English million.

Numeral edit

minion

  1. million

Welsh edit

Etymology edit

From min +‎ -ion.

Noun edit

minion

  1. plural of min

Mutation edit

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.