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MINSTREL
Definition of MINSTREL
noun
Originally, an entertainer employed to juggle, play music, sing, tell stories, etc.; a buffoon, a fool, a jester; later, a medieval (especially travelling) entertainer who would recite and sing poetry, often to their own musical accompaniment.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Middle English minstral, menestrel (“actor; juggler; mime; musician; singer; storyteller; (military) soldier playing a horn or trumpet as a signal”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman menestrel [and other forms] and Old French menestrel (“artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker”) [and other forms] (modern French ménestrel (“minstrel”)), from Late Latin ministerialis (“official or retainer owing household and military service to a feudal lord, a ministerial or ministerialis”), from Latin ministerium (“employment, ministration; office of a minister, ministry; action or attendance by an inferior person such as a slave, service”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives). Ministerium is derived from minister (“accomplice; agent; aide; attendant; servant; waiter”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey-n- (“little, small”) + *-yōs (“-er”, comparative suffix) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional suffix forming adjectives)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). Doublet of ministerial and ministerialis. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
5 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
14.4%
of traced words share this origin (11,191)
How it is built
Same root, MINSTREL · 1 relative in the game
Every Proto-Indo-European word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
MINSTREL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 50 boards so far. 109 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 31, 20 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 155, 22 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 31, 20 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
MINSTREL starts with M and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read EILMNRST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Words that start MINSTR
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 31
Could you have found MINSTREL?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 31 - and most players walked straight past it.
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