1490, fromMiddle Frenchmignon(“lover, royal favourite, darling”), fromOld Frenchmignon(“dainty, pleasing, gentle, kind”), fromFrankish*minnju(“love, friendship, affection, memory”), fromProto-Germanic*minþijō,*mindijō(“affectionate thought, care”), fromProto-Indo-European*men-(“to think”).Doublet ofmignon.
minion (countable anduncountable,pluralminions)
- Aloyalservant of another, usually a morepowerful being.
- Synonyms:disciple,follower;see alsoThesaurus:loyal follower
The archvillain deployed hisminions to simultaneously rob every bank in the city.
2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, inAmerican Scientist, volume101, number 3, page184:In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sizedminions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.
- Asycophanticfollower.
- (uncountable, typography, printing) Thesize oftype betweennonpareil andbrevier,standardized as 7-point.
- (obsolete) A loved one; one highly esteemed and favoured.
1608,Josuah Sylvester,Du Bartas his divine weekes and workes:God's disciple and his dearestminion
c.1605–1608,William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene iii]:Is this the Athenianminion whom the world / Voiced so regardfully?
- (obsolete) An ancient form ofordnance with acalibre of about three inches.
1647, Francis Beaumont, Philip Massinger,The Double Marriage (play), published1717,page19:Gun. My Cannons rung like Bells. Here's to my Mistress, The dainty sweet brassMinion: split their Fore-mast, She never fail'd.
- Obsolete form ofminium.
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.
loyal servant of another more powerful being
- Albanian:favorit
- Arabic:تَابِع(tābiʕ)
- Azerbaijani:sevimli (az)
- Bulgarian:фаворит (bg)(favorit)
- Catalan:adlàter,esbirro m orf
- 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 orf,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:(pleaseverify)[script needed](wafadar)
- Hungarian:csatlós (hu),samesz (hu),fogdmeg (hu)
- Icelandic:skósveinn m
- Indonesian:kaki tangan (id),antek (id)
- Italian:lacché m orf
- Japanese:子分 (ja)(こぶん, kobun)
- Korean:앞잡이 (ko)(apjabi)
- Latin:satelles (la) m orf
- 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 orf,esbirro m(henchman),achichintle (es) m orf(sidekick),adlátere (es) m orf(sidekick),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
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minion (comparativemoreminion,superlativemostminion)
- (obsolete)Favoured,beloved; "pet".
1603,Michel de Montaigne, translated byJohn Florio,The Essayes […],book 1, P.148, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes forEdward Blount […],→OCLC:These favours, with the commodities that followminion Courtiers, corrupt[…]his libertie, and dazle his judgement.
Borrowed fromEnglishmillion.
minion
- million
Frommin +-ion.
minion
- plural ofmin
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
