minion

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

1490, from Middle French mignon (“lover, royal favourite, darling”), from Old French mignot (“dainty, pleasing, gentle, kind”), from Frankish *minnjo (“love, friendship, affection, memory”), from Proto-Germanic *minþiō, *mindiō (“affectionate thought, care”), from Proto-Indo-European *men-, *mnā- (“to think”). Cognate with Old High German minnja (“love, care, affection, desire, memory”), Old Saxon minnea (“love”). More at mind.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪnjən/
• Homophone: minyan

Noun

minion (plural minions)

1. A loyal servant of another, usually a more powerful being.
   • 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, 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.

Synonyms

• (loyal servant): disciple, follower, henchman, stooge, toady

Translations

loyal servant of another more powerful being

• Albanian: favorit (sq)
• Arabic: التابع (ar)
• Azeri: sevimli (az)
• Bulgarian: любимец (bg) (ljubimec)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奴才 (cmn) (núcái)

• Czech: oblíbenec (cs)
• Dutch: ondergeschikte (nl)
• Estonian: käsilane (et)
• Finnish: käskyläinen (fi)
• French: subalterne (fr) m and f
• German: Günstling (de)
• Hebrew: מְשָׁרֵת (he)
• Hindi: wafadar (hi)
• Hungarian: kegyenc (hu)
• Indonesian: kaki tangan (id), antek (id)
• Japanese: 子分 (ja) (こぶん, kobun)
• Korean: 앞잡이 (ko) (apjabi)

• Latvian: mīlulis (lv)
• Mongolian: шадар (mn) (šadar)
• Persian: ﻕﻭﺸﻌﻤ (fa)
• Polish: sługa (pl)
• Portuguese: favorito (pt), lacaio (pt) m
• Romanian: răsfățat (ro)
• Russian: верный слуга (ru) (verniy sluga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: штићеник (sh), љубимац (sh)

  Roman: štićenik (sh), ljubimac (sh)

• Slovak: obľúbenec (sk)
• Spanish: adlátere (es), lacayo (es), achichincle (es)
• Swedish: skyddsling (sv)
• Thai: ข้าราชการผู้น้อย (th) (kâa râat-chá-gaan pôo nói)
• Turkish: dalkavuk (tr)
• Ukrainian: фаворит (uk) (favorít)
• Vietnamese: kẻ nô lệ (vi)

A sycophantic follower

• Dutch: slaafs volgeling (nl), hielenlikker (nl)
• French: laquais (fr)
• German: günstling (de)

• Indonesian: kacung (id)
• Spanish: acólito (es), sicario (es), sicofante (es)

Adjective

minion (comparative more minion, superlative most minion)

1. Favoured, beloved; "pet".
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, vol. 1 p. 148:

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