minister

English Online Dictionary. What means minister‎? What does minister mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.əˌstɚ/, /ˈmɪn.ɪ-/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.ɪs.tə/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.ə.stɚ/
  • (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.ə.stɐ/, /ˈmɪn.ə.stɚ/

Etymology 1

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. Doublet of Minorite.

Noun

minister (plural ministers)

2. (Protestantism) A person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church.

   Hypernym: cleric

3. (Roman Catholicism) A person (either a layperson or an ordained clergy member) who is commissioned to perform some act on behalf of the Catholic Church.
5. (government) A politician who heads a ministry

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:government minister

   Hypernym: provost (chief minister in areas of Central Europe and Scandinavia)
7. In diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
9. A servant; a subordinate; an officer or assistant of inferior rank; hence, an agent, an instrument.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with minster.

Derived terms

Related terms

• ministerial
• ministerium
• ministrix
• ministry

Descendants

• Pijin: minista
• → Hausa: ministà

Translations

See also

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

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English mynystren, from Middle French ministrer, from Old French menistrer, ministrer and Latin ministrō, from minister.

Verb

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

1. (intransitive, used with "to") To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.
2. (intransitive) To function as a clergyman or as the officiant in church worship.
3. (transitive, archaic) To afford, to give, to supply.

Translations

Further reading

• “minister”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “minister”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Tenriism, Terminis, interims, ministre, smirnite

Danish

Etymology

From Latin minister.

Noun

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

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Descendants

• → Greenlandic: ministeri

Further reading

• “minister” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪs.tər/
• Rhymes: -ɪstər

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French ministre. Used in political contexts since the 16th century.

Noun

minister m (plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Latin minister. Used in this sense since at least 1269.

Noun

minister m (plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

1. (religion) a servant of a monastery, or assistant of a priest

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: minister
• → Saramaccan: minísíti

References

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “minister”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
• Woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal door M. de Vries & L.A. te Winkel. 43 banden. 's-Gravenhage, Nijhoff, 1864-2001

Estonian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /minˈister/

Noun

minister (genitive ministri, partitive ministrit)

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “minister”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “minister”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
• minister in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Inari Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

minister

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Inflection

Derived terms

• ruttâminister

Kashubian

Alternative forms

• minyster

Etymology

Borrowed from German Minister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miˈɲis.tɛr/
• Rhymes: -istɛr
• Syllabification: mi‧nis‧ter

Noun

minister m pers (related adjective ministrów or ministersczi or ministerialny)

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• Stefan Ramułt (1893), “mińister”, in Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego (in Kashubian), page 101
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “minister”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[1]
• “minister”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Ladin

Noun

minister m (plural ministeres)

1. minister
2. ministry

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *minosteros. Equivalent to minus + comparative suffix *-teros. Compare magister.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɪˈnɪs.tɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [miˈnis.t̪er]

Noun

minister m (genitive ministrī, feminine ministra or ministrīx); second declension

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

   Synonym: cōnscius

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Coordinate terms

• magister
• ministra f
• ministrīx f

Derived terms

• ministerium
• ministrō

Descendants

References

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

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

minister

1. alternative form of ministre

Etymology 2

Verb

minister

1. alternative form of mynystren

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

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

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Derived terms

References

• “minister” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

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

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Derived terms

References

• “minister” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin minister. First attested in 1484.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /mʲiɲistɛr/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /mʲiɲistɛr/

Noun

minister m pers (related adjective ministrowski)

1. (religion, attested in Lesser Poland) minister (senior member of the tertiary fraternity, assistant and deputy of the monk who takes care of the fraternity)

Descendants

• Polish: minister
• Silesian: minister

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “minister”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish minister. Sense 1 is a semantic loan from French ministre.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -istɛr
• Syllabification: mi‧nis‧ter

Noun

minister m pers (female equivalent minister or ministerka, abbreviation min.)

2. (government) minister (politician who heads a ministry)
3. (government) high-ranking official in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland
4. (obsolete, Protestantism) minister (a person who is trained to preach, to perform religious ceremonies, and to afford pastoral care at a Protestant church)
5. (obsolete, Protestantism) Protestant evangelist, Protestant preacher

   Synonym: predykant

   Hypernyms: homiletyk, kaznodzieja

6. (obsolete, Roman Catholicism) abbot, prior (high-ranking member of a monastery)

   Synonyms: opat, przeor

7. (obsolete, Roman Catholicism) minister (assistant in a Jesuit cloister)
8. (obsolete, Roman Catholicism) head of a Franciscan cloister
9. (government, obsolete) official (person who works in government)

   Synonym: oficjalista

10. (Middle Polish, biblical, expressive, paganism) priest of pagan cults
11. (Middle Polish, Roman Catholicism, derogatory, ironic) heretical priest; supporter of heresy
12. (Middle Polish, Roman Catholicism) Catholic preacher
13. (Middle Polish) steward (chief administrator of a medieval manor)

    Synonyms: klucznik, szafarz, włodarz

Declension

Noun

minister f (indeclinable)

1. (government) female equivalent of minister (“minister”)

Derived terms

Related terms

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), minister is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 6 times in scientific texts, 213 times in news, 30 times in essays, 2 times in fiction, and 9 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 260 times, making it the 201st most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

References

Further reading

• minister in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• minister in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa; Stanisław Rospond; Witold Taszycki; Stefan Hrabec; Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023), “minister”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “MINISTER”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 06.03.2013
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “minister”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “minister”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1902), “minister”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 2, Warsaw, page 990

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ministère.

Pronunciation

Noun

minister n (plural ministere)

1. ministry

Related terms

• ministru

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish minister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miˈɲis.tɛr/
• Rhymes: -istɛr
• Syllabification: mi‧nis‧ter

Noun

minister m pers (related adjective ministeryjalny)

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Related terms

Further reading

• minister in silling.org

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

minister c

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)
2. a minister (in the foreign affairs administration)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• ministeriell
• ministerium
• ministär

Further reading

• minister in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• minister in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• Utrikes namnbok (12th ed., 2024)

West Frisian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ministre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪstər/, /məˈnɪstər/

Noun

minister c (plural ministers)

1. (government) minister (a politician who heads a ministry)

Derived terms

• minister-presidint

Further reading

• “minister”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011