minstrel

American  

[min-struhl] / ˈmɪn strəl /

noun

• minstrels
  plural

1. a medieval poet and musician who sang or recited while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, either as a member of a noble household or as an itinerant troubadour.

2. a musician, singer, or poet.

3. one of a troupe of comedians, usually white men in blackface, presenting songs, jokes, etc., and portraying negative racial stereotypes.

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minstrel British  

/ ˈmɪnstrəl /

noun

1. a medieval wandering musician who performed songs or recited poetry with instrumental accompaniment

2. a performer in a minstrel show

3. archaic any poet, musician, or singer

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• minstrels
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of minstrel

1175–1225; Middle English ministrel < Old French < Late Latin ministeriālis servant (noun use of adj.); see ministerial

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Explanation

If you were a lord in medieval times — back before radio or TV — you may have employed a minstrel for entertainment. The minstrel would keep your household amused by playing music and singing songs about faraway places. The word minstrel traces back to the Old French word menestral, meaning “entertainer, servant.” In medieval times, nobles would often employ a minstrel to recite poems and sing songs accompanied by music, so the minstrel was both entertainer and servant. A “wandering minstrel” is a singer who wanders from house to house for pay. Minstrel shows were traveling variety shows in 19th century America, considered offensive now because performers often wore "blackface" makeup and performed ugly racial stereotypes.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

minstrel minstrels

Much of the picture is devoted to songs and dances, with the children trying to determine whether this ragtag minstrel is really endowed with supernatural abilities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026

His father, who died when Marshall was 10, occasionally sang in a minstrel act and Marshall’s sister, actor Joanne Dru, worked as a showgirl at the Copa Club.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2024

However, the banjo's creation eventually became a blending between West African and European traditions mostly due to minstrel shows in the 1800s.

From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2024

“He wears the cloak and scepter of the American minstrel; he’s that guy,” said Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead and Elliott’s longtime friend.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2022

One more who had avoided furious death was the son of Terpis, Phemios, the minstrel, singer by compulsion to the suitors.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

NM: It’s such a complicated dance, to try to dismiss them as minstrels while also understanding the quality of their work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024

We are the last wandering minstrels, racing town to town, big clubs and small, piano player to piano player.

From New York Times ● Jul. 27, 2022

The composer and songwriter Stephen Foster, a white Pittsburgher, wrote the 1853 melody, which blackface minstrels made into a hit.

From Salon ● May 5, 2022

Meanwhile, abolitionist Frederick Douglass made it a point to become the era’s most-photographed man, in direct opposition to a culture drenched in racist images of minstrels and contented slaves.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 2, 2020

He looked inside and saw gathered there King Phillip, Queen Rosemary, the Princess Pea, twenty noble people, a juggler, four minstrels, and all the king’s men.

From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo

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Related Words

• troubadour

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