Meaning

noun a singer of folk songs

noun a performer in a minstrel show

verb celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels

originThe noun is derived from Middle English minstral, menestrel (“actor; juggler; mime; musician; singer; storyteller; (military) soldier playing a horn or trumpet as a signal”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman menestrel [and other forms] and Old French menestrel (“artisan; servant; itinerant musician or poet; worker”) [and other forms] (modern French ménestrel (“minstrel”)), from Late Latin…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0