minister

• (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/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

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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.

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

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

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)

   He was newly appointed to be Minister of the Interior.

   • 1661 (first printed), Francis Bacon, A Letter of Advice to the Duke of Buckingham:

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

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.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 287, column 2:

      […], I choſe / Camillo for the miniſter, to poyſon / My friend Polixenes: […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 24:13, column 1:

     And Moſes roſe vp, and his miniſter Ioſhua: and Moſes went vp into the mount of God.

Not to be confused with minster.

• ministerial
• ministerium
• ministrix
• ministry

• Pijin: minista
• → Hausa: ministà

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

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

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.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 7, column 2:

     I do vvell beleeue your Highneſſe, and did it to miniſter occaſion to theſe Gentlemen, […]

     (to give opportunity to these gentlemen)

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 9:10, column 2:

     ( […] Now he that miniſtreth ſeede to the ſower, both miniſter bread for your foode, and multiply your ſeede ſowen, and encreaſe the fruites of your righteouſneſſe)

   • 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:

     We minister to God reason to suspect us.

• “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.

• Tenriism, Terminis, interims, ministre, smirnite

From Latin minister.

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

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

• → Greenlandic: ministeri

• “minister” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪs.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstər

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

minister m (plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

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

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

minister m (plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

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

• → Papiamentu: minister
• → Saramaccan: minísíti

• 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

• IPA^(key): /minˈister/

minister (genitive ministri, partitive ministrit)

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

Declension of minister (ÕS type 2/õpik, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		minister	ministrid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	ministri
genitive			ministrite
partitive		ministrit	ministreid
illative		ministrisse	ministritesse ministreisse
inessive		ministris	ministrites ministreis
elative		ministrist	ministritest ministreist
allative		ministrile	ministritele ministreile
adessive		ministril	ministritel ministreil
ablative		ministrilt	ministritelt ministreilt
translative		ministriks	ministriteks ministreiks
terminative		ministrini	ministriteni
essive		ministrina	ministritena
abessive		ministrita	ministriteta
comitative		ministriga	ministritega

• “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)

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

minister

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

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	—

• ruttâminister

• minyster

Borrowed from German Minister.

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

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

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

• 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

minister m (plural ministeres)

1. minister
2. ministry

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

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

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

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

   Synonym: cōnscius

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

• magister
• ministra f
• ministrīx f

• ministerium
• ministrō

• “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

minister

1. alternative form of ministre

minister

1. alternative form of mynystren

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)

• “minister” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

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

• “minister” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Learned borrowing from Latin minister.^[1][2][3] First attested in 1484.

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

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)
   • 1892 [1484], Hieronim Łopaciński, editor, Reguła trzeciego zakonu św. Franciszka i drobniejsze zabytki języka polskiego z końca w. XV i początku XVI‎^[2], Krakow, page 716:

     Ministrovye albo prelaczy thego braczthva (ministri loci) mayą sye o tho vczyecz do bysskupow

     [Ministrowie albo prełaci tego bractwa (ministri loci) mają sie o to uciec do biskupow]

• Polish: minister
• Silesian: minister

• 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

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

• Audio:

  (file)

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

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

minister f (indeclinable)

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

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.^[2]

• 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

Borrowed from French ministère.

• Audio:

  (file)

minister n (plural ministere)

1. ministry

• ministru

Inherited from Old Polish minister.

• IPA^(key): /miˈɲis.tɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

minister m pers (related adjective ministeryjalny)

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

• minister in silling.org

• Audio:

  (file)

minister c

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

• ministeriell
• ministerium
• ministär

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

Borrowed from French ministre.

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪstər/, /məˈnɪstər/

minister c (plural ministers)

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

• minister-presidint

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