adjective

1. 1. lesser in size, amount, number, or extent
   2. lesser in importance or rank
2. under full legal age (usually either eighteen or twenty-one years)
3. Archaic constituting the minority: said of a party, etc.
4. sad; melancholy; plaintive: from the identification in Occidental music of the minor key with such qualities
5. ☆ Educ. designating or of a field of study in which students specialize, but less so than in their major
6. Music
   1. designating an imperfect interval smaller than the corresponding major interval by a semitone
   2. characterized by minor intervals, scales, etc. the minor key
   3. designating a triad having a minor third
   4. based on the scale pattern of the minor mode

Etymology: ME menour < L minor < IE *minu-, small < base *mei-, to lessen > Gr meiōn, less, ON minni, smaller

intransitive verb

noun

1. a person under full legal age, who has not yet acquired all civil rights
2. ☆ Educ. a minor subject or field of study
3. Music a minor interval, key, etc.