menial

English

Etymology

From Middle English meinial, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Anglo-Norman mesnal, from maisnee (“household”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Vulgar Latin mansionata, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin mansiōnem, accusative singular of mansiō (“house”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: mē'nēəl, IPA^(key): /ˈmiːni.əl/

Adjective

menial (comparative more menial, superlative most menial)

1. Of or relating to work normally performed by a servant.
2. Of or relating to unskilled work.
   • 2011, Chris Manning, ‎Sudarno Sumarto, Employment, Living Standards and Poverty in Contemporary Indonesia, →ISBN:

     For instance, controlling for the above-mentioned variables, migrants to Tangerang or Samarinda (rather than Medan) have a significantly greater chance of getting a craft (as opposed to menial) job.

3. Servile; low; mean.

   a menial wretch

Translations

of or relating to work normally performed by a servant

• Catalan: labor (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 低微的, 卑微的

• Finnish: avustava (fi)
• French: ancillaire (fr) m or f
• German: untergeordnet (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: servile (it)
• Japanese: 賎しい (iyashii), 下賎な (ja) (gesen na)
• Russian: лакейский (ru) (lakejskij)
• Serbo-Croatian: služinski (sh), lakejski, lakajski
• Swedish: underlydande

of or relating to unskilled work

• Finnish: yksinkertainen (fi)
• French: subalterne (fr) m or f
• German: nieder (de), niedrig (de)
• Japanese: 単純労働の (tanjun rōdō no)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: poroteke
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nedrig, lavstatuspreget

Noun

menial (plural menials)

1. A servant, especially a domestic servant.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed.

2. A person who has a subservient nature.

Translations

domestic servant

• Catalan: criat (ca) m, minyona (ca) f
• Dutch: dienaar (nl) m, dienares (nl) f, bediende (nl) c, meid (nl) f, knecht (nl) m
• French: domestique (fr) m or f
• Japanese: 召し使い (meshitsukai)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: wheteke
• Russian: слуга (ru) (sluga)
• Serbo-Croatian: sluga (sh), služinče (sh)
• Spanish: criado (es) m
• Swedish: tjänare (sv) c, underlydande c, tjänstefolk (sv) n pl

subservient person

• Maori: poroteke, tia
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• Elamin