minorとは意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English minor, menor, menour, &c., from Latin minor (“lesser; young; young person”) both directly and via Norman and Middle French menor, menour, &c. 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.

発音

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪ.nəɹ/
• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɪnə/
• 異形同音異義語: miner, mynah (non-rhotic accents)
• 韻: -aɪnə(ɹ)

形容詞

minor (comparative more minor, superlative most minor)

1. Lesser, smaller in importance, size, degree, seriousness, or significance compared to another option, particularly:
   • 1551, Thomas Wilson, The Rule of Reason..., sig. F8:

     Here we se thre proposicions, or sentences, whereof the first is called Maior, that is to saie, the proposicion at large. the seconde is called Minor, that is to saie, the seuerall proposicion. the thirde is called conclusio.

   • 1819 January 2, John Keats, letter:

     It is my intention to wait a few years before I publish any minor poems.

   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page viii:

     There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (かつ evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.

   of minor importance

   1. (law) Underage, not having reached legal majority.

      The defendant resides at 123 Fake Street with his partner and two minor children.

   2. (medicine, sometimes figuratively) Not serious, not involving risk of death, permanent injury, dangerous surgery, or extended hospitalization.
      • 1899 October, Edward Pollock Anshutz, Homoepathic Envoy, Vol. 10, No. 8, p. 58:

        We now know on authority of Dr. Briggs that every case of vaccination is "a minor case of smallpox," and that every such case of smallpox "should be carefully watched until all danger is passed".

      She suffered a minor injury... There was minor bruising... He has a minor case of puppy love...

   3. (music) Smaller by a diatonic semitone than the equivalent major interval.
      • 1653, Lord Brouncker translating Rene Descartes as Excellent Compendium of Musick, p. 30:

        ...a certaine Fraction, which may be the difference betwixt a Tone major and a Tone minor, which we nominate a Schism...

      The interval between C and E♭ is a minor third while C to E is a major third.

   4. (music) Incorporating a minor third interval above the (in scales) tonic or (in chords) root note, (also figuratively) tending to produce a dark, discordant, sad, or pensive effect.
      • 1772, William Jones, "On the Arts, Commonly Called Imitative", Poems..., p. 209:

        The minor mode of D is tender.

      • 1843 March, United States Magazine & Democratic Review, p. 273:

        The first chorus: ‘Behold the Lamb of God’, with its dark minor chords, brings threatening clouds over us.

      • 1880, Edmund Gurney, The Power of Sound, p. 271:

        Modern harmonists are unwilling to acknowledge that the minor triad is less consonant than the major.

      • 1948 November, J.M. Barbour, "Music and Ternary Continued Fractions", American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 55, No. 9, p. 545:

        After harmony was introduced into music during the late Middle Ages, major and minor triads emerged as the principal chords. The major triad, as C E G, was regarded with especial favor, because it occurs naturally in the harmonic series, as on bugles, and can be expressed by the simple ratios, 4:5:6. A system of tuning for the diatonic scale known today as just intonation gained support in the 16th century, because its principal triads, C E G, F A C, and G B D, had these just ratios. But an important minor triad, D F A, is harsh in just intonation, and other unsatisfactory triads result when this tuning is extended to the complete chromatic scale.

      • 1951, Carson McCullers, "The Sojourner", O. Henry Prize Stories of 1951, p. 200:

        The first voice of the fugue that Elizabeth had played... came to him, inverted mockingly and in a minor key.

      • 1984, Christopher Guest & al., This Is Spin̈al Tap:

        Tufnel: It's part of a trilogy, really, a musical trilogy that I'm doing in D... minor which I always find is really the saddest of all keys, really. I don't know why but it makes people weep instantly to play it... This piece is called "Lick My Love Pump".

      • 1995 October 23, John Walsh, "The Pragmatic Entertainer Who Said the Unsayable", The Independent, p. 3:

        He was a moralist in a minor key, more concerned that people should say ‘tinned peaches’ and not ‘tin peaches’, than that they should worry about nuclear disarmament.

      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.

   5. (Canada, 米国用法, education) Of or related to a minor, a secondary area of undergraduate study.

      The minor requirements only involve about 20 hours of classes.

   6. (mathematics) Of or related to a minor, a determinate obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns from a matrix.
   7. (logic) 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.

   8. (UK, dated) The younger of two pupils with the same surname.
      • c. 1593, Henry Chettle, Kind-harts Dreame, sig. C2:

        He whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes minor,
        And he whipt her with a foxes taile, Barnes maior.

      • 1978, John Innes Mackintosh Stewart, Full Term, p. 250:

        Espionage... was a field that had sophisticated itself since the distant time when Patullo Minor... had enthralled his school-fellows with his hazardous escapades.

   9. (music, historical) Of or related to the relationship between the longa and the breve in a score.
      • 1779, William Waring translating Jean-Jacques Rousseau as Complete Dictionary of Music, p. 243:

        The minor perfect mode was marked by one single line which crossed three spaces, and the longue was equal to three breves... The minor imperfect mode was marked by a line which crossed two spaces only, and its longue was equal only to two breves.

   10. (music, historical) Having semibreves twice as long as a minim.
       • 1969, Arthur Mendel, "Some Preliminary Attempts at Computer-Assisted Style Analysis in Music", Computers and the Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 45:

         Josquin works in minor prolation—that is, works in which the signature indicates that a semibreve is equal to two minims, often have a 3 as a medial signature for a few measures, indicating that until the 3 is canceled by the reappearance of a sign for minor prolation, there are to be 3 minims to a semibreve.

   11. (politics, obsolete) Of or related to a minority party.
       • 1642, Charles I, His Majesties Answer to a Printed Book Entituled A Remonstrance..., p. 13:

         ...that the Minor part of the Lords might joyn with the Major part of the House of Commons...

       • 1796 December 27, Thomas Jefferson, letter:

         In every other, the minor will be preferred by me to the major vote.

使用する際の注意点

In music and some educated contexts (particularly in borrowings directly from Latin), used as a postpositive: E minor, Friars Minor, Rayburn Minor.

同意語

• See Thesaurus:insignificant and Thesaurus:small

反意語

• (most senses): major
• (legally underage): grown, adult, mature, of age
• (medically unthreatening): serious, grave, severe, dangerous, fatal, life-threatening, acute (くだけた用法)

派生語

名詞

minor (複数形 minors)

1. (law) A child, a person who has not reached the age of majority, consent, &c. and is legally subject to fewer responsibilities and less accountability and entitled to fewer legal rights and privileges.
   • 1612, John Davies, A Discouerie of the True Causes Why Ireland Was Neuer Entirely Subdued..., p. 88:

     King Richard the second... for the first tenne yeares of his raigne, was a Minor.

   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.
   • 1821, Pierce Egan, Real Life in London..., Vol. I, p. 92:

     Mr Gloss'em, who is a shining character in the theatrical world, at least among the minors of the metropolis.

   He plays in the minors... She hasn't won a minor since the Sichuan Open... The play is considered one of his minors...

3. (music) Ellipsis of minor interval, scale, mode, key, chord, triad, &c.
4. (Canada, 米国用法, education) A formally recognized secondary area of undergraduate study, requiring fewer course credits than the equivalent major.

   I got a minor in English Lit.

5. (Canada, 米国用法, education, まれに) A person who is completing or has completed such a course of study.

   I became an English minor.

6. (mathematics) A determinant of a square matrix obtained by deleting one or more rows and columns.
   • 1850, James Joseph Sylvester, London, Edinburgh, & Dublin Philosophical Magazine..., Vol. 37, p. 366:

     ...the whole of a system of rth minors being zero...

   • 1986, C.W. Norman, Undergraduate Algebra, p. 315:

     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. (Catholicism) Alternative letter-case form of Minor: a Franciscan friar, a Clarist nun.
   • 1447, Osbern Bokenham, Legendys of Hooly Wummen, l. 10520:

     He... to þe menours ordre went

8. (logic) Ellipsis of minor term or minor premise.
   • c. 1450, Anonymous, "The Clergy May Not Hold Property", p. 31:

     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. (baseball) Ellipsis of minor league: the lower level of teams.
   • 1890 July 31, Sporting Life, Philadelphia, p. 1:

     It is certain that the major leagues must depend upon the minors for their recruits.

10. (ice hockey) Ellipsis of minor penalty: a penalty requiring a player to leave the ice for 2 minutes unless the opposing team scores.
    • 1924 December 30, Gazette, Montreal, p. 14:

      Penalties... First Period... all minors.

11. (豪州用法 football) Synonym of behind: a one-point kick.
    • 1903 May 16, Sporting News, Tasmania, p. 4:

      Brown from a mark on the magazine wing put up the first minor.

12. (rugby, historical) Ellipsis of minor point: a lesser score formerly gained by certain actions.
    • 1883 February 5, York Herald, p. 8:

      At half-time the score was—one goal, three tries, and four minors.

13. (bridge) Ellipsis of minor suit; a card of a minor suit.
    • 1927, Milton Cooper Work, Contract Bridge, p. 11:

      Many find it easier to remember 20 for Minors, 30 for Majors and 35 for No Trump.

14. (entomology) Any of various noctuid moths in Europe and Asia, chiefly in the Oligia and Mesoligia genera.
15. (entomology) A leaf-cutter worker ant intermediate in size between a minim and a media.
16. (campanology) Changes rung on six bells.
17. (Scotland law, obsolete) An adolescent, a person above the legal age of puberty but below the age of majority.
18. (mathematics, rare, obsolete) Synonym of subtrahend, the amount subtracted from a number.
19. (UK, rare, obsolete) The younger brother of a pupil.
    • 1864, Eton School Days, p. 82:

      Let my minor pass, you fellows!... Here, Chudleigh, just make room there.

等位語

• (law): adult
• (Scottish law): pupil, adult

派生語

• minoress

動詞

minor (三人称単数 現在形 minors, 現在分詞 minoring, 過去形および過去分詞形 minored) (intransitive)

1. Used in a phrasal verb: minor in.

参照

• “minor, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.
• “minor”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “minor”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
• Minor in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

アナグラム

• Miron, Morin, morin

Latin

発音

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.nor/, [ˈmɪnɔr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.nor/, [ˈmiːnor]

語源 1

From Proto-Italic *minwōs, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”). Doublet of minuō.

形容詞

minor (neuter minus, positive parvus); third declension

1. comparative degree of parvus:
   1. less, lesser, inferior, smaller
      • Caesar, de Bello Gallico VII, 16:

        Vercingetorix minoribus Caesarem itineribus subsequitur

        Vercingetorix follows Caesar by shorter marches

   2. cheaper
   3. younger

Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective.

反意語

• maior

派生した語

名詞

minor m (genitive minōris); third declension

1. subordinate, minor, inferior in rank
2. person under age (e.g. 25 years old), minor
   1. (poetic, in the plural) children; descendants, posterity

      29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.532–533:

      nunc fama minores Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem.

      now there is a rumor that a later people called the land Italy from the name of their leader.

Inflection

Third-declension noun.

語源 2

From minae (“threats, menaces”) +‎ -ō (verbal suffix). Doublet of minō.

動詞

minor (present infinitive minārī, perfect active minātus sum); first conjugation, deponent

1. (literally, poetic) I jut forth, protrude, project
2. (transferred sense) [+ablative] I threaten, menace

Inflection

派生語

派生した語

参照

• (adjective) “minor”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• (verb) “minor”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• “minor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• minor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius かつ others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• minor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be not yet twenty: minorem esse viginti annis
    
  • to be indisposed: leviter aegrotare, minus valere
    
• “minor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “minor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin