noun · verb · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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Pronunciation
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CMU ARPABET:M IH1 N S T R AH0 L
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Originally, an entertainer employed to juggle, play music, sing, tell stories, etc.; a buffoon, a fool, a jester; later, a medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, attributive, historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bard, jongleur, troubadour
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Any lyric poet, musician, or singer.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, attributive, broadly, poetic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
One of a troupe of entertainers, often a white person who wore black makeup (blackface), to present a so-called minstrel show, being a variety show of banjo music, dance, and song (now regarded as racist).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, also, attributive, broadly, historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
An amphetamine tablet, typically black, or black and white, in colour.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, attributive, broadly, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
To play (a tune on a musical instrument); to sing (a song).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Narrower terms: Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, Seeger, Pete Seeger, Peter Seeger
8
noun
Meaning 8
a performer in a minstrel show
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: performer, performing artist
Narrower terms: end man, corner man, interlocutor, middleman
9
verb
Meaning 9
celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sing
History
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English minstral, menestrel (“actor; juggler; mime; musician; singer; storyteller; (military) soldier playing a horn or trumpet as a signal”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman menestrel [and other forms] and Old French menestrel (“artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker”) [and other forms] (modern French ménestrel (“minstrel”)), from Late Latin ministerialis (“official or retainer owing household and military service to a feudal lord, a ministerial or ministerialis”), from Latin ministerium (“employment, ministration; office of a minister, ministry; action or attendance by an inferior person such as a slave, service”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Ministerium is derived from minister (“accomplice; agent; aide; attendant; servant; waiter”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey-n- (“little, small”) + *-yōs (“-er”, comparative suffix) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional suffix forming adjectives)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Doublet of ministerial and ministerialis. The verb is derived from the noun.
Across languages
Translations
37 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Belarusian:
менестрэ́ль
(mjenjestrélʹ)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Bourguignon:
ménétrei
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Bulgarian:
менестре́л
(menestrél)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Catalan:
joglar
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Catalan:
menestrer
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Chinese Mandarin:
吟遊詩人 /吟游诗人
(yínyóu shīrén)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Czech:
minstrel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Dutch:
speelman
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Dutch:
minstreel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Finnish:
minstreli
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Finnish:
kiertelevä laulaja
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
French:
ménestrel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
French:
ménétrier
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Galician:
segrel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Galician:
xogral
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Galician:
xograr
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Georgian:
მენესტრელი
(menesṭreli)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
German:
Minnesänger
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
German:
Spielmann
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
German:
Troubadour
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Greek:
μενεστρέλος
(menestrélos)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Hungarian:
vándorénekes
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Italian:
menestrello
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Japanese:
ミンストレル
(minsutoreru)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Japanese:
吟遊詩人
(gin'yū shijin)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Korean:
민스트럴
(minseuteureol)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Korean:
음유시인
(eumyusiin)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Old English:
sċop
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Polish:
minstrel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Portuguese:
menestrel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Portuguese:
jogral
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Romanian:
menestrel
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Russian:
менестре́ль
(menestrélʹ)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Spanish:
ministril
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Spanish:
juglar
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Ukrainian:
менестре́ль
(menestrélʹ)
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment
Walloon:
mestré
— medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment