minority English · revision 5411

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1533|origins=la minor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /maɪˈnɒr.ə.ti/, /mɪˈnɒr.ə.ti/, US /maɪˈnɔːr.ə.t̬i/, /mɪˈnɔːr.ə.t̬i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|minorité]], or directly from [[la-med|minoritas]],^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(NODE 1998) from [[la|minor|t=less, smaller, junior]].^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) It is related to [[minor]] and [[majority]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The state of being smaller or inferior: 1533 in the OED, the 1530s in Etymonline, a sense now obsolete.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Being under legal age is from 1547.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The smaller number or part of a whole is from 1736,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the smaller party in voting from 1774,^(OED 1989) with the sense in politics generally by 1789.^(Etymonline) A group set apart from the rest of a community by race, religion or language is from 1919, at first in an Eastern European context, 1921 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) As a modifier, appealing to a minority, as in ''minority interest'', it is from 1930.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1533 – being smaller.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1547 – being under age.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1736 – the smaller part.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1774 – in voting.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1919 – an ethnic or religious group.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The smaller of two groups or parts.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A group whose race, religion or language differs from that of most people in a country.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A party or group with fewer than half the votes.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(law)'' The state or time of being under legal age.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[nonminority]]

+ * [[minority group]]

+ * [[minority leader]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[minor]]

+ * [[majority]]

+ * [[minimum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}