minion

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

1490, from Middle French mignon (“lover, royal favourite, darling”), from Old French mignot (“dainty, pleasing, gentle, kind”), of Germanic origin, 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 more powerful being.

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

2. A sycophantic follower
3. (Biblical tradition) An order of angel in Christian angelology, ranked above angels and below thrones.

Synonyms

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

Translations

loyal servant of another more powerful being

Albanian: favorit (sq) Arabic: التابع Azeri: sevimli Bosnian: štićenik (bs) Bulgarian: любимец (bg) (ljubimec) Chinese: 奴才 (núcái) Croatian: ljubimac (hr) Czech: oblíbenec Dutch: ondergeschikte (nl) Estonian: käsilane Finnish: käskyläinen (fi) French: subalterne (fr) m. and f. German: Günstling Hebrew: מְשָׁרֵת Hindi: wafadar Hungarian: kegyenc Indonesian: kaki tangan (id)

Japanese: 子分 (こぶん) (kobun) Korean: 앞잡이 (apjabi) Latvian: mīlulis Mongolian: шадар (mn) (šadar) Persian: ﻕﻭﺸﻌﻤ Polish: sługa (pl) Portuguese: favorito (pt) Romanian: răsfățat Russian: верный слуга (verniy sluga) Serbian: љубимац (sr) (ljubimac) Slovak: obľúbenec Spanish: adlátere, lacayo (es), achichincle Swedish: skyddsling (sv) Thai: ข้าราชการผู้น้อย (kâa râat-chá-gaan pôo nói) Turkish: dalkavuk (tr) Ukrainian: фаворит (uk) (favorít) Vietnamese: kẻ nô lệ

A sycophantic follower

Dutch: slaafs volgeling (nl), hielenlikker (nl) French: laquais (fr)

German: günstling (de) Spanish: acólito (es), sicario (es), sicofante (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Icelandic: handbendir (m)

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.