minyan

[ Sephardic Hebrew meen-yahn; Ashkenazic Hebrew, English min-yuhn ]

/ Sephardic Hebrew minˈyɑn; Ashkenazic Hebrew, English ˈmɪn yən /

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noun, plural min·yan·im

[Sephardic Hebrew meen-yah-neem; Ashkenazic Hebrew min-yaw-nim], /Sephardic Hebrew min yɑˈnim; Ashkenazic Hebrew mɪnˈyɔ nɪm/, English min·yans.Hebrew.

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.

such a group.

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Origin of minyan

minyān literally, number

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH minyan

minion, minyan

Words nearby minyan

minute steak, minutiae, minx, Minya, Minyades, minyan, Minyas, Miocene, miombo, miosis, miotic

Other definitions for minyan (2 of 2)

Minyan

[ min-yuhn ]

/ ˈmɪn yən /

Classical Mythology

adjective

descended from Minyas.

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

Minyans. Also Min·yae

[min-yee]. /ˈmɪn yi/. the descendants of Minyas who inhabited Orchomenus in Boeotia and Iolcus in Thessaly.

How to use minyan in a sentence

Then he left his home and fled from horse-rearing Argos and came to Minyan Orchomenus.
Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica|Homer and Hesiod
There was scarcely a Minyan present at the evening services in the Shul.
Simon Eichelkatz; The Patriarch|Ulrich Frank
Date uncertain, but in Boeotia evidence that it ended before rise of 'Minyan' ware.
How to Observe in Archaeology|Various
She stood on the threshold of the house, and looked after her two men starting for a distant Minyan.
Yiddish Tales|Various

"The Minyan is there," and Mattes pointed his finger at the thatched roofs shining in the sunset.
Yiddish Tales|Various

British Dictionary definitions for minyan

minyan

/ Hebrew (minˈjan, English ˈmɪnjən) /

noun plural minyanim (minjaˈnim) or minyans

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

Word Origin for minyan

literally: number

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