minister

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.əˌstɚ/, /ˈmɪn.ɪ-/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪn.ɪs.tə/

• Audio (US)

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• 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)

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

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

2. A politician who heads a ministry (national or regional government department for public service).

   He was newly appointed to be Minister of the Interior.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:government minister

   • 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.

3. In diplomacy, the rank of diplomat directly below ambassador.
4. 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.

• (chief minister in areas of Central Europe and Scandinavia): provost

• ministress
• prime minister

• 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. (transitive) To attend to (the needs of); to tend; to take care (of); to give aid; to give service.
2. 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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “minister”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Tenriism, Terminis, interims, ministre, smirnite

From Latin minister.

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

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

• → Greenlandic: ministeri

• “minister” in Den Danske Ordbog

• audio

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• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪstər/

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

minister m (plural ministers, diminutive ministertje n)

1. A minister, a person who is commissioned by the government for public service.

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 assistent of a priest.

• → Papiamentu: minister
• → Saramaccan: minísíti

• "minister" at etymologiebank.nl
• 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. minister

• minister in Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat
• minister in Raadik, M., editor (2018), Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018, Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, →ISBN
• minister in Sõnaveeb

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

minister

1. minister (politician)

• ruttâminister

minister m (plural ministeres)

1. minister
2. ministry

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

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /miˈnis.ter/, [mɪˈnɪs̠t̪ɛr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /miˈnis.ter/, [miˈnist̪er]

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) a minister (politician who heads a ministry)

• “minister” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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

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

• “minister” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from Latin minister.

• IPA^(key): /miˈɲis.tɛr/

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

minister m pers

1. (politics) minister

minister f (indeclinable)

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

• minister in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• minister in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French ministère.

minister n (plural ministere)

1. ministry

• ministru

• Audio

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minister c

1. a minister (member of government, cabinet)
2. a minister (in the foreign affairs administration)

Borrowed from French ministre.

• IPA^(key): /miˈnɪstər/, /məˈnɪstər/

minister c (plural ministers)

1. minister (of a government)

• minister-presidint

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