minyan

US: 'minyan': (Seph. mēn yän′; Ashk., Eng. min′yən); 'Minyan': (min′yən)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

min•yan  (Seph. mēn yän′; Ashk., Eng. min′yən), n., pl. min•yan•im (Seph. mēn yä nēm′; Ashk. min yô′nim), Eng. min•yans. [Hebrew.]

1. Judaism 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.
2. Judaism such a group.

• minyān literally, number

Min•yan  (min′yən), [Class. Myth.]
adj. 

1. Mythology descended from Minyas.
2. Archaeology being or pertaining to a gray, wheel-thrown pottery produced in ancient Greece during the early part of the Helladic period, c2000b.c.

n. 

Minyans. Also, Min•yae  (min′yē). the descendants of Minyas who inhabited Orchomenus in Boeotia and Iolcus in Thessaly.