minor

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• minour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin minor (“rather small”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /maɪnə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophones: miner, mynah (non-rhotic accents)

Adjective

minor (comparative more minor, superlative most minor)

1. Of little significance or importance.

   The physical appearance of a candidate is a minor factor in recruitment.

   • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page viii

     There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.

2. (music) Of a scale which has lowered scale degrees three, six, and seven relative to major, but with the sixth and seventh not always lowered

   a minor scale.

3. (music) being the smaller of the two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:insignificant
• See also Wikisaurus:small

Antonyms

• major

Translations

of little importance

• Czech: vedlejší (cs) m
• Danish: ubetydelig (da)
• Dutch: onbelangrijk
• Finnish: vähäinen (fi), vähämerkityksinen (fi)
• German: gering (de), geringfügig (de), klein (de), unbedeutend (de)

• Greek: ελάσσων (el) (elásson)
• Italian: minore (it)
• Russian: незначительный (ru) (neznačítelʹnyj)
• Scots: smaa
• Turkish: ikincil (tr), tâlî (tr)

musical scale

• Danish: mol (da) c
• Finnish: molli (fi)
• German: moll (de)
• Greek: μινόρε (el) (minóre)

• Italian: minore (it)
• Russian: минорный (ru) (minórnyj)
• Turkish: minör (tr)

Noun

minor (plural minors)

1. A person who is below the legal age of responsibility or accountability.

   It is illegal to sell weapons to minors under the age of eighteen.

2. A subject area of secondary concentration of a student at a college or university, or the student who has chosen such a secondary concentration.
   • I had so many credit hours of English, it became my minor.
   • I became an English minor.
3. (mathematics) determinant of a square submatrix

Antonyms

• (law): adult
• major

Translations

someone below the legal age

• Afrikaans: minderjarige (af)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 未成年人 (cmn) (wèichéngniánrén), 未成年者 (cmn) (wèichéngniánzhě)

• Danish: mindreårig (da)
• Dutch: minderjarige (nl) m and f
• Finnish: alaikäinen (fi)
• French: mineur (fr) m
• German: Minderjähriger (de) m, Minderjährige (de) f, minderjährige Person (de) f

• Italian: minore (it) m and f
• Japanese: 未成年者 (ja) (みせいねんしゃ, miseinensha)
• Persian: کسی که زیر سن قانونی است (fa)
• Russian: несовершеннолетний (ru) (nesoveršennolétnij) m, малолетний (ru) (malolétnij) m
• Spanish: menor (es) m, menor de edad (es) m
• Swedish: underårig (sv)
• Turkish: küçük (tr), rüşte ermemiş (tr), reşit olmayan (tr), ergin olmayan (tr)

subject of secondary concentration

• Danish: bifag (da) n
• Dutch: bijvak (nl) n
• Finnish: sivuaine (fi) (subject); sivuaineopiskelija (fi) (student)

• German: Nebenfach (de) n
• Russian: непрофильный предмет (neprófilʹnyj predmét) m
• Turkish: yardımcı (tr)

Verb

minor (third-person singular simple present minors, present participle minoring, simple past and past participle minored)

1. To choose or have an area of secondary concentration as a student in a college or university.
   • I had so many credit hours of English, I decided to minor in it.

Translations

choose an area of secondary concentration

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 輔修 (cmn), 辅修 (cmn) (fǔxiū)

• Finnish: suorittaa (fi) sivuaine (fi)

Anagrams

• morin

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Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA: /miˈnor/

Adjective

minor

1. (comparative form of parve) smaller

le minor

1. the smallest

Synonyms

• (smallest): minime

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈmi.nor/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Adjective

minor (comparative of parvus)

1. comparative of parvus; lesser, inferior, smaller.
2. vocative masculine singular of minor
3. vocative feminine singular of minor
4. accusative neuter singular of minor
5. vocative neuter singular of minor

Inflection

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	M.F.	N.		MM.FF.	NN.
nominative	minor	minus		minōrēs	minōra
genitive	minōris	minōris		minōrum	minōrum
dative	minōrī	minōrī		minōribus	minōribus
accusative	minōrem	minus		minōrēs	minōra
ablative	minōre	minōre		minōribus	minōribus
vocative	minor	minus		minōrēs	minōra

Antonyms

• māior

Descendants

Catalan: menor, menys English: minor, minus French: mineur, moindre, moins Italian: minore, meno

Occitan: menor, mendre, mens Portuguese: menor, menos Sardinian: minore Spanish: menor, menos

Noun

minor (genitive minoris); m, third declension

1. subordinate
2. descendants (in plural)

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	minor	minorēs
genitive	minoris	minorum
dative	minorī	minoribus
accusative	minorem	minorēs
ablative	minore	minoribus
vocative	minor	minorēs

Verb

present active minor, present infinitive minārī, perfect active minātus sum. (deponent)

1. I jut forth, protrude, project.
2. I threaten, menace someone with something.

Inflection

    First Conjugation Deponent

indicative		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	minor	mināris	minātur	mināmur	mināminī	minantur
	future	minābor	mināberis	minābitur	minābimur	minābiminī	minābuntur
	imperfect	minābar	minābāris	minābātur	minābāmur	minābāminī	minābantur
	perfect	Use minātus m, mināta f, minātum n followed by the present indicative of sum.
	future perfect	Use minātus m, mināta f, minātum n followed by the future indicative of sum.
	pluperfect	Use minātus m, mināta f, minātum n followed by the imperfect indicative of sum.
subjunctive		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
active	present	miner	minēris	minētur	minēmur	minēminī	minentur
	imperfect	minārer	minārēris	minārētur	minārēmur	minārēminī	minārentur
	perfect	Use minātus m, mināta f, minātum n followed by the present subjunctive of sum.
	pluperfect	Use minātus m, mināta f, minātum n followed by the imperfect subjunctive of sum.
imperatives		active			passive
		present (you)	future (you)	future (he/she)	present (you)	future (you)	future (he/she)
	singular	mināre	minātor	minātor	—	—	—
	plural	mināminī	—	minantor	—	—	—
		present	perfect	future	present	perfect	future
infinitives		minārī	minātus esse	minātūrus esse	—	—	—
participles		mināns (minantis)	minātus-a, -um	minātūrus-ra, -rum	—	—	minandus-nda, -ndum

Derived terms

• mināx

Descendants

Dalmatian: menur French: mener Italian: menare

Jèrriais: m'ner Romanian: mâna

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Swedish

Noun

minor

1. indefinite plural of mina