minyan

¹

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

noun

, Hebrew.

, plural min·yan·im [meen-yah-, neem, min-, yaw, -nim], English min·yans.

1. 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. such a group.

Minyan

²

[ min-yuhn ]

adjective

1. descended from Minyas.
2. 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

1. Minyans. Also Min·yae [] the descendants of Minyas who inhabited Orchomenus in Boeotia and Iolcus in Thessaly.

minyan

/ ˈmɪnjən; minˈjan /

noun

1. 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 History and Origins

Origin of minyan¹

minyān literally, number

Word History and Origins

Origin of minyan¹

literally: number

Example Sentences

The 2018 Tree of Life massacre that killed 11 people also deprived the synagogue of reliable members of a minyan — the quorum of 10 Jews necessary for religious observance, Mark Oppenheimer writes.

From New York Times

It has been more difficult to reach the required minyan, or quorum, of 10 people in order to recite certain prayers.

From New York Times

He knew the head count because, as a ritual leader of the congregation, he made sure there was the required minimum — a minyan — of 10 adult worshippers in the room.

From Seattle Times

Pil makes sure that every day, morning and night, a minyan — a quorum of 10 men necessary for Orthodox Jews to hold certain prayers — is present.

From Los Angeles Times

The lawsuit alleges that University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan sent an unconstitutional cease-and-desist order to Mr. Grand to halt a planned 10-person prayer meeting of Orthodox Jews called a “minyan.”

From Washington Times