minor
mi·nor/ˈmaɪ.nəɹ/adjective, noun, verb
minor is spelled M-I-N-O-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables (mi·nor). It appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “miner vs minor” about 880 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, minor means “Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option, particularly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in minor?
| Letters | 5: M-I-N-O-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: mi·nor |
| In writing | 42 times per million words; the 2,392nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is minor?
Minor appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce minor?
- US /ˈmaɪ.nəɹ/
- UK /ˈmaɪnə/
Minor has 2 syllables, split mi·nor in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-minor.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with minor
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: miner (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with minor?
4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as minor from its last stressed vowel (/aɪnəɹ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of minor
- more minor comparative
- most minor superlative
- miner
- maner
- minore
- minour
- mynor
- mynour
- mynowr
- mi
- minors plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- minoring participle, present
- minored participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does minor mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option, particularly
of minor importance
- 2
Underage, not having reached legal majority.
The defendant resides at 123 Fake Street with his partner and two minor children.
- 3
Not serious, not involving risk of death, permanent injury, dangerous surgery, or extended hospitalization.
She suffered a minor injury.
- 4
Smaller by a diatonic semitone than the equivalent major interval.
The musical interval between C and E♭ is a minor third while C to E is a major third.
- 5
Incorporating a minor third interval above the (in scales) tonic or (in chords) root note, (also figurative) tending to produce a dark, discordant, sad, or pensive effect.
Beethoven's melancholy Moonlight Sonata is scored in the key of C# minor, using the diatonic scale C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, and B, but modulates throughout.
- 6
CanadaUSOf or related to a minor, a secondary area of undergraduate study.
The minor requirements only involve about 20 hours of classes.
- 7
Of or related to a minor, a determinate obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns from a matrix.
- 8
Acting as the subject of the second premise of a categorical syllogism, which then also acts as the subject of its conclusion.
The minor term of John Stuart Mill's famous syllogism–usually mistakenly credited to Aristotle–is Socrates; the major term is mortal.
noun
- 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.
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.
- 2
A lesser person or thing, a person, group, or thing of minor rank or in the minor leagues.
He plays in the minors.
- 3
Ellipsis of minor interval, minor scale, minor mode, minor key, minor chord, or minor triad.
- 4
CanadaUSA formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major.
I got a minor in English Lit.
- 5
CanadaUSA person who is completing or has completed such a course of study.
I became an English minor.
- 6
A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns.
- 7
Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun.
- 8
Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise.
verb
- 1
Used in a phrasal verb: minor in.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Minor in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mineur |
| German | gering, geringfügig, klein, unbedeutend, untergeordnet, nachgeordnet |
| Portuguese | menor |
| Spanish | menor , menor de edad , minor, carrera menor (académica) |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does minor come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).