mentee

A mentee is the person being mentored by a mentor.

A mentor is the main person you rely on to give you advice and guidance, especially in your career. If you have a mentor, you are the mentee. Mentee is only used in relation to a mentor.

Example: I feel like I’ve learned more from my mentees than they have from me.

The first records of mentee come from the 1960s. Similar to most mentor-mentee relationships, mentor is much older—the first records of it come from the 1700s, but it wasn’t popularly used as a verb until the 1900s. Mentee is a combination of mentor and the suffix -ee, which indicates a person who is the object or beneficiary of the act specified by the verb. (For example, addressee refers to the person to whom something is addressed; employee refers to the person being employed.)

The words mentor and mentee are most commonly used in professional and academic contexts. In academia, a mentor is usually a teacher, especially a professor, and a mentee is typically a student. A mentor may act as a model for the mentee’s career and help them decide which path to pursue. The same thing goes for professional mentor-mentee relationships, in which the mentor is usually a boss or a person who holds a more senior position. Because mentors draw on their experience to mentor mentees, mentors are usually older. In all cases, the two words imply a close relationship based on the mentee’s respect for the mentor’s wisdom and experience and the mentor’s recognition of the mentee’s dedication and potential.

What are some other forms related to mentee?

• mentees (plural)

What are some words that share a root or word element with mentee? 

• mentor

What are some words that often get used in discussing mentee?

• student
• teacher
• professor
• boss
• craft
• learn
• example
• apprentice
• experience

Mentee is typically used by mentees themselves and their mentors when referring to such a relationship.

you know those scenes in movies where a cool older mentor gives their mentee a stack of albums that’ll “change their life” or whatever? i wanna do that but with a sleeve of burned CDs & be like “autobiography – simpson. metamorphosis – duff. let go – lavigne. misundaztood—

— Jill Gutowitz (@jillboard) January 31, 2020

Today a mentee of mine passed her driving test, which will open up the door to a job, which will lead to a career, and grad school and great opportunities. I feel so happy for her. A year ago in a homeless shelter—today on the cusp of BIG THINGS! ❤️

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) February 18, 2020

Sitting with my mentee. He just told me he’s never seen The Godfather 1, Godfather 2, or The Color Purple. I’m literally disgusted.

— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) May 17, 2019

Is mentee used correctly in the following sentence?

In retrospect, I was a bad mentee—I was never good at taking good advice.