What does "menial" mean?

A servant, especially a domestic servant.

What is a synonym for "menial"?

Common synonyms include: humble, attendant, attending, base, blue collar worker, blue-collar worker.

//ˈmiːni.əl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
A servant, especially a domestic servant.
"“Nay, Dame Mary,” answered the Knight, “it is enough you desire such an attendant.—Yet I have never loved to nurse such useless menials—a lady's page—it may well suit the proud English dames to have a slender youth to bear their trains from bower to hall, fan them when they slumber, and touch the lute for them when they please to listen; […]”"
2
a domestic servant wordnet
3
A person who has a subservient nature.

Adjective

1
Of or relating to work normally performed by a servant.
"She hung round him, watching his every look as if she grudged the veriest menial offices from the servants; and she almost scolded him for not eating, when he had done justice enough to the good things set before him to have satisfied even the cook herself."
2
Of or relating to unskilled work.
"menial job"
3
Servile; low; mean.
"a menial wretch"

Adjective

"Even though I put my all into this to begin with it ended up being menial work, so I think it didn't turn out great."

From Middle English meyneal, from Anglo-Norman mesnal, from maisnee (“household”), from Vulgar Latin *mānsiōnāta, from Latin mānsiō (“house”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.