Definition of "minor" []

• Lesser or smaller in amount, extent, or size. (adjective)
• Lesser in importance, rank, or stature: a minor politician. (adjective)
• Lesser in seriousness or danger: a minor injury. (adjective)
• Law Being under legal age; not yet a legal adult. (adjective)
• Chiefly British Relating to or being the younger or junior of two pupils with the same surname. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This interval between the first and third tones consists of four half-steps in the major scale and of three half-steps in the minor scale and this difference in size has given rise to the designation _major_ for the scale having the larger third, and _minor_ for the scale having the smaller one."
• "A minor scale having the same signature as a major scale is said to be its _relative minor_."
• "E [flat], d of F, etc., the small letter being used to refer to the minor key or scale, while the capital letter indicates the major key or scale unless accompanied by the word _minor_."