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  • minyan
    minyan
    noun
    the number of persons required by Jewish law to be present to conduct a communal religious service, traditionally a minimum of 10 Jewish males over 13 years of age.
  • Minyan
    Minyan
    adjective
    descended from Minyas.

minyan

1 American  
[meen-yahn, min-yuhn] / minˈyɑn, ˈmɪn yən /

noun

Hebrew.
minyanim, plural minyans plural
  1. the number of persons required by Jewish law to be present to conduct a communal religious service, traditionally a minimum of 10 Jewish males over 13 years of age.

  2. such a group.


Minyan 2 American  
[min-yuhn] / ˈmɪn yən /

adjective

  1. descended from Minyas.

  2. being or pertaining to a gray, wheel-thrown pottery produced in ancient Greece during the early part of the Helladic period, c2000 b.c.


noun

  1. Minyans. Also Minyae the descendants of Minyas who inhabited Orchomenus in Boeotia and Iolcus in Thessaly.

minyan British  
/ ˈmɪnjən, minˈjan /

noun

  1. the number of persons required by Jewish law to be present for a religious service, namely, at least ten males over thirteen years of age

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of minyan

minyān literally, number

Explanation

In Judaism, some prayers require a minyan, or a group of at least ten adults. Wedding blessings and prayers for the dead are among those that need a minyan. A minyan is a religious quorum, the minimum number of people required. In Judaism, many prayers can be said alone, but some of them require the sense of community and connection that comes from a cohesive group of people. Saying Kaddish after a loved one’s death is one example. In Orthodox synagogues, a minyan is composed only of men, but in most Jewish communities women are also included. Minyan has a Hebrew root, maneh, "to count or to number."

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Vocabulary lists containing minyan

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Asked by a prosecutor if his Tree of Life congregation has been able to gather a minyan as easily since the attack, Weiss said it hasn’t.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 1, 2023

But the reliability of that minyan makes the congregation vital beyond its regular members.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2023

Josef’s landlord wants the building to have a minyan, the quorum of 10 people required by Jewish law for communal prayer.

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2021

Meanwhile, there are also cultural things that people do want to import which get complicated because it’s Mars, like... how do you have a minyan when there aren’t ten Jewish men on the planet?

From The Verge • Sep. 18, 2018

But suddenly I thought standing in a minyan for somebody’s bar mitzvah was the most important thing in the word.

From "Prisoner B-3087" by Alan Gratz

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