Minör

Minör is a term used in several languages to denote the minor tonal quality in music, and in some contexts to signify something smaller or lesser. The spelling with the diacritic over the o marks its pronunciation in languages that use non-ASCII characters and typically corresponds to the English “minor” in musical and descriptive uses. Etymology traces to the Latin minor, via French mineur and German Moll, with adaptation into loanword forms in various languages, including Turkish, where minör is common in music theory and education.

In music theory, minör designates the minor mode or minor scale, distinct from the major mode. A piece in a minör key features a minor third between the root and third scale degree, and may use natural, harmonic, or melodic variants of the minor scale. Chords and cadences built on the minor scale are described as minör triads and related harmony. The concept forms the basis of many relative major/minor relationships, such as the relation between C major and A minor.

Beyond music, minör can function as a general loanword meaning smaller or lesser in some languages, appearing in educational or scholarly contexts to discuss secondary aspects. In Turkish, for instance, minör is the standard term for the minor tonality in music, used alongside majör for major.

Because of its use across languages, the exact spelling and pronunciation of minör can vary by locale, and in some languages other terms (such as moll) are more common for the same concept.