Word.ws English Dictionary

minstrelsy

minstrelsy noun: the musical and other art and craft of a minstrel.

Noun

minstrelsy (countable and uncountable, plural minstrelsies)

  1. The musical and other art and craft of a minstrel.
    • Orfeo makes his way into this palace, and so charms the king with his minstrelsy, that he gives him back his wife.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 86
    • They, of course, would change, but not again could she; henceforth no music for her in the Bush birds' minstrelsy, no pleasure in rivalry with buttercups for the butterflies' kiss.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 186
  2. A group of minstrels.
  3. Any similar modern group performing song and verse.
  4. A collection of minstrel ballads.

Forms of minstrelsy

pluralminstrelsies

Origin of minstrelsy

From Middle English minstralcie, from 13th century Anglo-Norman menestralsie, menestralcie, from Old French menestrel (“minstrel”), itself from Medieval Latin ministralis (“servant, jester, singer”), from Late Latin ministerialis (“imperial household officer, one having an official duty”), from the adjective ministerialis (“ministerial, servants”), from Latin ministerium (“service”).

Questions about minstrelsy

What does minstrelsy mean?
Minstrelsy means the musical and other art and craft of a minstrel.
What part of speech is minstrelsy?
Minstrelsy is a noun.
What is the plural of minstrelsy?
The plural of minstrelsy is minstrelsies.

Words near minstrelsy in the dictionary

  1. minstrels
  2. minstrels' galleries
  3. minstrels' gallery
  4. minstrelship
  5. minstrelsies
  6. minstrelsy
  7. mint
  8. mint 'n' chip
  9. mint cake
  10. mint cakes
  11. mint chip

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: minstrelsy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-minstrelsy.wav.

Cite this entry: “minstrelsy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/minstrelsy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.