Word: minor Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English minor, menor, menour, etc., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, etc. Doublet of minus but not mini-. Cognate with minister, minify, Minorca, Menshevik, and possibly minnow. Compare Latin minimum and minuō, Old High German minniro, Cornish minow. Pronunciation: /ˈmaɪ.nəɹ/, /ˈmaɪnə/ 1. A child, a person who has not reached the age of majority, consent, etc. and is legally subject to fewer responsibilities and less accountability and entitled to fewer legal rights and privileges. Example: No, he can't get a mortgage or sell the house. He's still a minor. For the most part, he can't sign a legally binding contract. Example: He was only a minor when he succeeded his father to the barony. 2. A lesser person or thing, a person, group, or thing of minor rank or in the minor leagues. Example: He plays in the minors. Example: She hasn't won a minor since the Sichuan Open. 3. Ellipsis of minor interval, minor scale, minor mode, minor key, minor chord, or minor triad. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis 4. A formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major. Labels: Canada, US Example: I got a minor in English Lit. 5. A person who is completing or has completed such a course of study. Labels: Canada, US, uncommon Example: I became an English minor. 6. A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns. Example: ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero... Example: Let A be a non-zero matrix of rank r over a field. Then A has a non-zero r-minor and all s-minors of A are zero for s > r. 7. Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun. Labels: alt-of Example: He... to þe menours ordre went 8. Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: And so musten oure clerkis argue whan þai aleggen for her lordeschip þe lyuynge of her patrons & sayntis, & sayen þus: "Seynt thomas & seynt hwe & seynt Swiþune wer þus lordis, & in þis þai suyd cristis lyuynge & his lore; þerfor we may lefulli be þus lordis." And I wote wel þat gabriel schal blow his horne or þai han preuyd þe mynor; þat is, þat þes seyntes or patrons in þis suyden þe lore or þe life of ihesu criste. 9. Ellipsis of minor league (“the lower level of teams”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits. 10. Ellipsis of minor penalty (“a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for 2 minutes unless the opposing team scores”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: Penalties... First Period... all minors. 11. Synonym of behind: a one-point kick. Labels: Australian Example: Brown from a mark on the magazine wing put up the first minor. 12. Ellipsis of minor point (“a lesser score formerly gained by certain actions”). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, historical Example: At half-time the score was—one goal, three tries, and four minors. 13. Ellipsis of minor suit, a card of a minor suit. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: Many find it easier to remember 20 for Minors, 30 for Majors and 35 for No Trump. 14. Any of various noctuid moths in Europe and Asia, chiefly in the Oligia and Mesoligia genera. 15. A leaf-cutter worker ant intermediate in size between a minim and a media. 16. Changes rung on six bells. 17. An adolescent, a person above the legal age of puberty but below the age of majority. Labels: obsolete 18. Synonym of subtrahend, the amount subtracted from a number. Labels: obsolete, rare 19. The younger brother of a pupil. Labels: UK, obsolete, rare Example: Let my minor pass, you fellows!... Here, Chudleigh, just make room there. 20. Short for graph minor. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of