MINOR

Meaning

A person who is below the age of majority, consent, criminal responsibility or other adult responsibilities and accountabilities.

“It is illegal to sell weapons to minors under the age of eighteen.”

• verbTo choose or have an area of secondary concentration as a student in a college or university.
• adjectiveOf little significance or importance.

MINOR as a word-puzzle answer

MINOR is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (I, O) and 3 consonants (M, N, R). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (I, N, O, R), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.

MINOR by the numbers

Across the 1,734 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, R appears in 37% of answers (the 3rd most common letter), O appears in 30% of answers (the 5th most common letter), I appears in 29% of answers (the 6th most common letter). 12 other answers share the opening “MI-”, so two green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.

Difficulty: 2/5 — approachable, because its letters are common and no close neighbors compete with it.

Near misses

One letter away in the answer bank: MINER, MANOR. Each of these turns four tiles green against MINOR — the classic endgame squeeze where spending a guess on the differing letter beats burning attempts on hope.

Put it to use

Words like MINOR are exactly what the daily puzzles throw at you. Warm up in Practice, race the clock in the Daily Challenge, or study the best starting words before your next run. New to the multi-board modes? The mode guides cover all nine.