minority

English

Etymology

From Middle French minorité, and its source Late Latin minōritās, from Latin minor.

Morphologically minor +‎ -ity

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/, /mɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/
• IPA^(key): /maɪˈnɔɹ.ɪ.ti/, /mɪˈnɔɹ.ɪ.ti/, /maɪˈnɔɹ.ə.ti/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /maɪˈnɑɹ.ɪ.ti/, /mɪˈnɑɹ.ɪ.ti/
• IPA^(key): /mɑɪˈnɔɹ.ə.ti/
• Rhymes: -ɒɹɪti

Noun

minority (countable and uncountable, plural minorities)

1. The state of being a minor; youth, the period of a person's life prior to reaching adulthood. [from 15th c.]
   • 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 117:

     She also played a key role as dowager-regent during the minority of her son.

   Synonym: childhood

   Antonym: adulthood

2. Any subgroup that does not form a numerical majority. [from 18th c.]

   Most people agreed, but a sizable minority were upset by the decision.

   • 2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera

     The case is the latest chapter in a decade-long struggle by the nation's elite minority to crush the powerful political machine founded by Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in another coup in 2006.

   Antonym: majority

3. (US) A member of an ethnic minority. [from 20th c.]

   The company claims it has hired several minorities since the complaint was lodged.

4. (sociology) A group of people seen as distinct who are subordinated and discriminated against in a society.
   • 1951 October, Helen Mayer Hacker, “Women as Minority Group”, in Howard W. Odum, Katherine Jocher, editors, Social Forces, volume 30, number 1, Williams & Wilkins, →DOI, page 63:

     But we have seen that one important difference between women and other minorities is that women's attitudes and self-conceptions are conditioned more largely by interaction with both minority and dominant group members

5. (India, euphemistic) A Muslim.

Derived terms

• ethnic minority
• gender minority
• invisible minority
• majority-minority
• minority cabinet
• minority council
• minority government
• minority group
• minority language
• minority leader
• minority report
• minority rule
• model minority
• sexual minority
• visible minority
• vocal minority

Related terms

• minor

Translations

subgroup that does not form a numerical majority

• Afrikaans: minderheid (af)
• Arabic: أَقَلِّيَّة f (ʔaqalliyya)
• Armenian: փոքրամասնություն (hy) (pʻokʻramasnutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: azlıq (az), əqəliyyət
• Belarusian: ме́ншасць f (mjénšascʹ)
• Bulgarian: малцинство́ (bg) n (malcinstvó)
• Burmese: အနည်းစု (a.nany:cu.)
• Catalan: minoria (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 少數 / 少数 (zh) (shǎoshù)

• Czech: menšina (cs) f
• Danish: mindretal (da)
• Dutch: minderheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: malplimulto
• Estonian: vähemus
• Finnish: vähemmistö (fi)
• French: minorité (fr) f
• Georgian: უმცირესობა (umciresoba)
• German: Minderheit (de) f, Minorität (de) f
• Greek: μειονότητα (el) f (meionótita)
• Hebrew: מיעוט m (mi'út)
• Hungarian: kisebbség (hu)
• Icelandic: minnihlutahópur m
• Italian: minoranza (it) f
• Japanese: 少数 (ja) (しょうすう, shōsū)
• Kazakh: азшылық (azşylyq)
• Khmer: ជនជាតិភាគតិច (cɔɔnciət phiəktəc)
• Korean: 소수(少數) (ko) (sosu)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: mazākumgrupa f, minoritāte f
• Lithuanian: mažuma (lt)
• Macedonian: малцинство n (malcinstvo)
• Maltese: minoranza f
• Maori: tokoiti
• Meänkieli: minuriteetti
• Norman: minnorité f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: minoritet (no) m, mindretall n

  Nynorsk: minoritet m, mindretal n

• Occitan: minoritat (oc) f
• Persian: اقلیت (fa) (aqalleyat)
• Polish: mniejszość (pl) f
• Portuguese: minoria (pt) f
• Romanian: minoritate (ro)
• Russian: меньшинство́ (ru) n (menʹšinstvó)
• Sardinian: minoria f
• Scottish Gaelic: beag-chuid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мањѝна f

  Roman: manjìna (sh) f

• Slovak: menšina f
• Slovene: manjšina f
• Spanish: minoría (es) f
• Swedish: minoritet (sv) c
• Thai: คนกลุ่มน้อย (kon-glùm-nɔ́ɔi)
• Ukrainian: ме́ншість f (ménšistʹ)
• Vietnamese: thiểu số (vi) (少數)
• West Frisian: minderheid (fy)
• Yiddish: מינדערהייט f (minderheyt)

member of an ethnic minority

• Afrikaans: minderheidslid
• Azerbaijani: azlıq (az)
• Bulgarian: малцинство́ (bg) n (malcinstvó)
• Burmese: လူနည်းစု (my) (lunany:cu.)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: vähemmistön edustaja
• Georgian: უმცირესობა (umciresoba), ეთნიკური უმცირესობა (etniḳuri umciresoba), ეროვნული უმცირესობა (erovnuli umciresoba)
• Greek: μειονότητα (el) f (meionótita)
• Hindi: अल्पसंख्यक (hi) m (alpasaṅkhyak)
• Hungarian: kisebbségi (hu)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: người dân tộc thiểu số
• Yiddish: מינדערהייט f (minderheyt)

period or condition of a person prior to reaching adulthood

• Afrikaans: minderjarigheid
• Belarusian: непаўнале́цце n (njepaŭnaljéccje)
• Bulgarian: непълноле́тие n (nepǎlnolétie)
• Catalan: minoritat
• Czech: nezletilost f
• Finnish: alaikäisyys (fi), nuoruus (fi)
• French: minorité (fr) f
• Galician: menoridade (gl) f
• Georgian: არასრულწლოვანება (arasrulc̣lovaneba), მცირეწლოვანება (mcirec̣lovaneba)
• Korean: 미성년(未成年) (ko) (miseongnyeon)
• Latvian: nepilngadība f
• Norman: minnorité f
• Polish: małoletniość (pl) f
• Portuguese: menoridade f
• Russian: несовершенноле́тие (ru) n (nesoveršennolétije)
• Spanish: minoría (es) f
• Ukrainian: неповнолі́ття n (nepovnolíttja)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Afrikaans: ^{(please verify)} minderheid (af)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} minderheid (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} minorité (fr), ^{(please verify)} minoritaire (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} Minderheit (de) f
• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} малцинство n (malcinstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} мањѝна f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} manjìna (sh) f

• Sotho: ^{(please verify)} bonyenyane
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} minoritet (sv)

Adjective

minority (comparative more minority, superlative most minority)

1. (relational, attributive) Of or relating to a minority.

   They hold a minority interest in the company.

2. (attributive, politics, of a party, government, etc.) Empowered by or representing a minority (usually a plurality) of votes cast, legislative seats, etc., rather than an outright majority thereof.

   minority government

Translations

of or relating to a minority

• French: minoritaire (fr)
• Hungarian: kisebbségi (hu)
• Italian: minoritario (it)
• Spanish: minoritario

See also

• Thesaurus:quantifier

Further reading

• “minority”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “minority”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.