minister

See also: Minister

English

Etymology

From Middle English ministre, from Old French ministre, from Latin minister ‎(“an attendant, servant, assistant, a priest's assistant or other under official”), from minor ‎(“less”) + -ter; see minor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪnɨstɚ/ or IPA^(key): /ˈmɪnɪstə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

minister ‎(plural ministers)

Wikipedia

1. A person who is trained to perform religious ceremonies at a Protestant church.

   The minister said a prayer on behalf of the entire congregation.‎

2. A politician who heads a ministry (national or regional government department for public service).

   He was newly appointed to be Minister of the Interior.‎

   • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

     Ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears, and hands they are, must be answerable to God and man.

3. At a diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
4. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.
   • Bible, Exodus xxiv. 13

     Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua.

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     I chose / Camillo for the minister, to poison / My friend Polixenes.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with minster.

Hypernyms

• (Chief minister in areas of Central Europe and Scandinavia): provost

Related terms

• ministerial
• ministry
• ministerium

Translations

person who is trained to perform religious ceremonies at a Protestant church

• Afrikaans: predikant (af), dominee (af)
• Burmese: ဘုန်းကြီး (my) ‎(bhun:kri:)
• Catalan: ministre de l'església m
• Dutch: dominee (nl) m
• Erzya: туростор ‎(turostor)
• Finnish: pappi (fi)
• French: pasteur (fr)
• Greek: πάστορας (el) m ‎(pástoras)
• Hebrew: כֹּמֶר / כומר (he) m ‎(komer)
• Hungarian: lelkész (hu), lelkipásztor (hu)
• Kurdish: qeşe (ku) m, f
• Lao: ນິຄົນ ‎(ni khon)
• Maori: minita

• Navajo: ééʼ neishoodii
• Pijin: minista
• Polish: pastor (pl) m
• Portuguese: ministro (pt) m
• Russian: свяще́нник (ru) m ‎(svjaščénnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: ministear m
• Sotho: moruti
• Spanish: ministro (es)
• Tagalog: kataluna, ministro (tl)
• Tok Pisin: minista
• Turkmen: ruhany
• Uzbek: ruhoniy (uz)

politician who heads a ministry

• Afrikaans: minister
• Albanian: ministër (sq) m
• Arabic: وَزِير m ‎(wazīr)

  Egyptian Arabic: وزير ‎(waziir)

• Armenian: նախարար (hy) ‎(naxarar)
• Azeri: nazir (az), vəzir
• Belarusian: міні́стр m ‎(minístr)
• Bengali: মন্ত্রী ‎(môntri)
• Bole: minista
• Bulgarian: мини́стър m ‎(minístǎr)
• Burmese: ဝန်ကြီး (my) ‎(wankri:)
• Catalan: ministre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大臣 (zh) ‎(dàchén), 部長 (zh), 部长 (zh) ‎(bùzhǎng)

• Crimean Tatar: nazir
• Czech: ministr (cs) m
• Danish: minister (da) c
• Dutch: minister (nl) m, f
• Erzya: туростор ‎(turostor)
• Esperanto: ministro
• Estonian: minister (et)
• Finnish: ministeri (fi)
• French: ministre (fr) m, f
• Galician: ministro m
• Georgian: მინისტრი ‎(minisṭri)
• German: Minister (de) m, (female) Ministerin (de) f
• Greek: υπουργός (el) m, f ‎(ypourgós)

  Ancient: ὑπουργός m ‎(hupourgós)

• Hausa: minista (ha)
• Hebrew: שַׂר (he) m ‎(sar), שָׂרָה f ‎(sara)
• Hindi: वज़ीर m ‎(vazīr), मंत्री (hi) m ‎(mantrī)
• Hungarian: miniszter (hu)
• Icelandic: ráðherra m
• Indonesian: menteri (id)
• Japanese: 大臣 (ja) ‎(だいじん, daijin)
• Kazakh: министр (kk) ‎(mïnïstr), уәзір ‎(wäzir)
• Khmer: រដ្ឋមន្ត្រី (km) ‎(roattʰa mʊəntrəy), មន្ត្រី (km) ‎(mʊəntrəy)
• Korean: 대신 (ko) ‎(daesin), 장관 (ko) ‎(janggwan)
• Kurdish: wezîr (ku) f, m, şalyar (ku) f, m

• Kyrgyz: министр ‎(ministr), вазир (ky) ‎(vazir)
• Lao: ລັດຖະມົນຕີ ‎(lat tha mon tī)
• Latvian: ministrs m, ministre f
• Lithuanian: ministras (lt) m, ministrė f
• Macedonian: министер m ‎(minister)
• Malay: menteri (ms)
• Malayalam: മന്ത്രി (ml) ‎(mantri)
• Maori: minita
• Mongolian: сайд (mn) ‎(sajd)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: minister m

  Nynorsk: minister m

• Old English: þeġen
• Persian: وزیر (fa) ‎(vazir)
• Polish: minister (pl) m, f
• Portuguese: ministro (pt)
• Romanian: ministru (ro) m, ministră f
• Russian: мини́стр (ru) m ‎(minístr)
• Sanskrit: मन्त्रि (sa) m ‎(mantri), मन्त्रिन् (sa) ‎(mantrin)
• Scottish Gaelic: ministear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: министар m

  Roman: ministar (sh) m

• Slovak: minister m
• Slovene: minister (sl) m, ministrica f
• Sotho: tona (st)
• Swahili: waziri (sw)
• Swedish: minister (sv)
• Tajik: вазир ‎(vazir)
• Telugu: మంత్రి (te) ‎(maṃtri)
• Thai: รัฐมนตรี ‎(rát-tà mon-dtrii)
• Turkish: bakan (tr), vezir (tr)
• Turkmen: ministr
• Ukrainian: міні́стр m ‎(minístr)
• Urdu: وزیر (ur) m ‎(vazīr)
• Uzbek: vazir (uz), ministr (uz)
• Vietnamese: bộ trưởng
• Yiddish: מיניסטער ‎(minister)

someone who serves others

• Afrikaans: dienaar
• Dutch: dienaar (nl)

• Finnish: palvelija (fi)
• Russian: исполни́тель (ru) m ‎(ispolnítelʹ)

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

• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} ministro

Verb

minister ‎(third-person singular simple present ministers, present participle ministering, simple past and past participle ministered)

1. (transitive) To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.

   A newspaper headline: Couple leaves business world to minister to inner-city children

2. to function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship
3. (transitive, archaic) To afford, to give, to supply.
   • Bible, 2 Corinthians ix. 10

     He that ministereth seed to the sower.

   • Jeremy Taylor

     We minister to God reason to suspect us.

   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 2 scene 1

     I do well believe your highness; and did it to / minister occasion to these gentlemen [...] (to give opportunity to these gentlemen)

Translations

to attend to; to tend

• German: sich kümmern (de), sorgen (de)

• Russian: служи́ть (ru) n ‎(služítʹ), помога́ть (ru) n ‎(pomogátʹ)

See also

• cleric
• father
• parson
• pastor
• priest
• vicar

External links

• minister in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• minister in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• interims

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Danish

Wikipedia ^da

Noun

minister c ‎(definite singular ministeren, indefinite plural ministre, definite plural ministrene)

1. a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪstər/

Noun

minister m ‎(plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

1. A minister, a person who is commissioned by the government for public service.

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Inari Sami

Noun

minister

1. minister (politician)

Inflection

Odd inflection
	singular	plural
Nominative	minister	ministereh
Accusative	minister	ministerijd
Genitive	minister	ministerij
Illative	ministerân	ministeráid
Locative	ministerist	ministerijn
Comitative	ministeráin	ministerijguin
Abessive	ministerttáá	ministerijttáá
Essive	ministerin	—
Partitive	ministerid	—

Derived terms

• ruttâminister

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Ladin

Noun

minister m ‎(plural ministeres)

1. minister
2. ministry

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Latin

Etymology

From minus + comparative suffix *-tero-. Compare magister.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /miˈnis.ter/, [mɪˈnɪs.tɛr]

Noun

minister m ‎(genitive ministrī); second declension

1. attendant, servant, waiter
2. agent, aide
3. accomplice

Inflection

Second declension, nominative singular in -er.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	minister	ministrī
genitive	ministrī	ministrōrum
dative	ministrō	ministrīs
accusative	ministrum	ministrōs
ablative	ministrō	ministrīs
vocative	minister1	ministrī

¹May also be ministre.

Derived terms

• ministerium
• ministrō

Coordinate terms

• magister

Descendants

• Catalan: ministre
• English: minister
• French: ministre
• Hungarian: miniszter
• Italian: ministro

• Portuguese: ministro
• Romanian: ministru
• Russian: мини́стр ‎(minístr)
• Serbo-Croatian: ministar
• Spanish: ministro

References

• minister in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• minister in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

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Norwegian Bokmål

Wikipedia ^no

Noun

minister m ‎(definite singular ministeren, indefinite plural ministere / ministre / ministrer, definite plural ministerne / ministrene)

1. a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

Derived terms

• statsminister

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Noun

minister m ‎(definite singular ministeren, indefinite plural ministrar, definite plural ministrane)

1. a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

Derived terms

• statsminister

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Romanian

Etymology

From French ministère.

Noun

minister n ‎(plural ministere)

1. ministry

Related terms

• ministru

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

minister c

1. a minister (member of government, cabinet)
2. a minister (in the foreign affairs administration)

Declension

Inflection of minister
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	minister	ministern	ministrar	ministrarna
Genitive	ministers	ministerns	ministrars	ministrarnas

Related terms

• finansminister
• försvarsminister
• justitieminister
• kulturminister
• statsminister
• utbildningsminister
• utrikesminister