Where does “minority” come from?
Minority comes from Middle French minorité, meaning the state of being under the legal age of majority.
minority (English): The state of being a minor; youth, the period of...
Definitions
- The state of being a minor; youth, the period of...
Ancestry of “minority”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | minorité | — |
| 2 | Latin | minōritās | minority (age) |
| 3 | Latin | -tās | ty, -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |