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

Etymology

Origin of minstrel

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

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

These would influence the American musical, but also shaping the genre were homegrown entertainments—the minstrel show, the revues of Florenz Ziegfeld, vaudeville and burlesque.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

The screams wouldn’t have reached the Hollywood Hills, where Bill Whitten wound down after a typical Sunday cooking Southern-style collard greens and cornbread in his eclectic home filled with African and Black American minstrel art.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025

White minstrel performers like Joel Walker Sweeney were credited with popularizing the instrument that inspired a vital part of popular music in the country seen as "hillbilly" music.

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

His appeal, his tears, moved all the gentry listening there; but now they saw the crier and the minstrel come from Odysseus’ hall, where they had slept.

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

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

Not to mention “My Bathroom Is a Private Kind of Place” by the American Standards, minstrels of the American Standard Company, maker of toilets.

From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2013

I have talked to gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Related Words

• troubadour