minder

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"minder" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“minder” is uncommon English (frequency #57,562 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,562
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who minds, tends, or watches something such as a child, a machine, or cattle; a keeper.

Corpus desk

Index EN-minder · minder · English

minder · rank #57,562 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,562
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH metrical

Nearest frequency peer: metrical (-5 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “minder”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “minder” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for minder
PropertyValue
Headwordminder
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#57,562
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “minder” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).minderfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “metrical” (#57,557), “meso” (#57,556), “mentalist” (#57,555). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “minder” is #57,562. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

minder is uncommon English at frequency #57,562 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for minder in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mynder, mendowre (“one who has a good memory; bears in mind; watches over; a keeper”); equivalent to mind + -er. The correct English form is minder, spelled M-I-N-D-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    One who minds, tends, or watches something such as a child, a machine, or cattle; a keeper.
  2. 2
    A personal bodyguard.
  3. 3
    A monitor assigned by the authorities to someone, such as a foreign visitor (to exercise control over their contacts with the populace) or a journalist or someone who is speaking to journalists (to monitor and control what they say).
  4. 4
    One who is taken care of, such as a pauper child in the care of private person; a ward.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how minder appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. With the bulky, heavy helmet for the film strapped on, I was inside a fully immersive virtual world. With de la Peña playing minder and holding a tether which prevented me from bumping into walls, I somehow ended up inside the news story.
  2. The twenty-eight journalists who sailed with the task force were accompanied by seven censors or 'minders' from the MoD, as well as by military press officers attached to each unit.

Etymology

From Middle English mynder, mendowre (“one who has a good memory; bears in mind; watches over; a keeper”); equivalent to mind + -er.

Synonyms

protectorguardian

This word in other languages

niñera(Español)garde du corps(Français)Betreuer(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "minder"?
"minder" is spelled M-I-N-D-E-R.
What does "minder" mean?
As a noun, "minder" means: One who minds, tends, or watches something such as a child, a machine, or cattle; a keeper.
What is the origin of the word "minder"?
From Middle English mynder, mendowre (“one who has a good memory; bears in mind; watches over; a keeper”); equivalent to mind + -er. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "minder", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mouldy#57,572matric#57,551munger#57,573maquis#57,548

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list