# Is "mentee" (the subject of a mentor's attention) a real word historically? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241 "2003-02-11T00:15:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/1 "2003-02-11T00:15:14Z")
Does “mentee” have any real etymological history or is it just a newly coined word. It’s on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) but it seems to have no history other than being the subject of a mentor’s attentions. Have mentor and “mentee” always traveled side by side? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/2 "2003-02-11T00:24:13Z")
Mentor comes from the name of Odysseus’s wise advisor. The name word does not have the same connotation as other similar words. I think that the word most people mean when they say “mentee” is protege. And FWIW “mentee” does not appear in my big honkin’ dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/3 "2003-02-11T02:24:31Z")
My dictionary (OED) must be extra-big and extra-honkin’, since it dates “mentee” to 1965. It also notes it to be of U.S. origin. **Shib** , I would argue that there’s a subtle yet important difference between a mentee and a protege: the first being a person who’s advised by a mentor (as in the Odysseus/Mentor relationship), while a protege is under the protection or apprenticeship of another (as in a journeyman/master relationship). ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/4 "2003-02-11T02:44:19Z")
Yes, I didn’t mean to imply it was the same thing, just that might be what people actually mean. In US business parlance, though, a mentor would have a protege. I just think that term fell out of use because of it’s implication of a protected relationship, which rings a bit of favoritism, so someone made up a new word. US business is forever inventing or corrupting meanings of words in an attempt to sound hip. It’s ironic that my Webster’s Unabridged (just a shade over 2000 pages) doesn’t have an entry, yet your OED does. Leave it to the English to define our American phrases. Perhaps Webster thought the usage was improper and hence did not include it? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/5 "2003-02-11T03:26:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ShibbOleth \* > \*\*It’s ironic that my Webster’s Unabridged (just a shade over 2000 pages) doesn’t have an entry, yet your OED does. Leave it to the English to define our American phrases. Perhaps Webster thought the usage was improper and hence did not include it? \*\* Not really. The OED is just a better dictionary. Nothing comes close for etymological information. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/6 "2003-02-11T03:34:00Z")
“Mentee” is a nonword. It was used by a false analysis of the -or ending in Mentor. Most words ending in -or, like lessor, are agentive, so the corresponding words ending in -ee, like lessee, are passive. Mentor is not one of those words. The -or agentive ending is Latin, but Mentor is a Greek name. Originally it was the name of a family friend of Odysseus. Athena took on the form of Mentor to give advice to Telemachus. That’s why it’s used to mean advisor. But there is no word mentee. To say “mentee” shows ignorance of what Mentor really is. Protégé is the word you really want to use here. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/7 "2003-02-11T03:36:31Z")
IOW, there is no verb '“to ment”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/8 "2003-02-11T03:48:06Z")
Why should the creation of an English word depend on Latin forms? Virtually every word in English has changed or at least added meaning from the original word in whatever language it has borrowed from. New words form all the time, based on whatever criteria the coiner desires. The word television was once denounced as a barbarity because it was half-Greek and half-Latin. Today, nobody knows or cares about its origin. It was a useful word and became part of the everyday language. Mentee will either be deemed useful and become part of the language or not, solely based on its perceived need and desirability. Its origins matter not a whit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/9 "2003-02-11T04:18:41Z")
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Minty. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/10 "2003-02-11T04:23:56Z")
Mentee is in my copy Webster’s Dictionary, but there is no etymology. ---
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/11 "2003-02-11T04:44:44Z")
I hate the way mentee is used. Does a tutor tutor a tutee? Come on! It’s stupid. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/12 "2003-02-11T05:05:17Z")
Please! Those of you who refer to having a **Webster’s** dictionary. **Webster’s** is a generic term. It means nothing. **I** could write my own version of a dictionary and call it a **Webster’s**. Please identify your dictionary with more descriptive titles such as “Merriam Webster Collegiate.” > [@](#): > > “Mentee” is a nonword The dictionary cites would prove that this is a false statement. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/13 "2003-02-11T06:08:01Z")
The OED, as **peepthis** observes, dates the term to 1965, and says that it is of US origin. Interestingly, the 1965 instance of this usage comes from the _American Economic Review_, and subsequent citations are from the _American Political Science Review_ (1978), _Progressive_ (1983), _Vanity Fair_ (1994), and _Fast Company_ (electronic edition, 2001). Now, while i love the OED and defer to it on all aspects of the English language, i’m still not going to use what i consider to be an awkward-sounding and entirely superfluous addition to the language. My _Fowler’s Modern English Usage_ (Third Edition) doesn’t specifically mention this word, but has this to say about the use of -ee in general: > [@](#): > > **-ee[sup]1[/sup]. 1** A suffix drawn from OF words in _-ee, -é_, denoting a recipient of a grant or the like, e.g. _feeoffee, grantee, lessee, patentee_, on the model of which many others were made, most of which cannot be construed as ‘direct’ passives, but denote the indirect object of the corresponding verbs; in _payee_ (18C) ‘one to whom something is payable’, and _trustee_ (17C), there has been a further (uncontroversial) departure from the usual pattern. > > **2** The common correspondence of agent-nouns in _-or_ or _-er_, e.g. _lessor_ and _lessee_, _obligor_ and _obligee_, with nouns in _-ee_ led to the general application of the suffix, sometimes risibly, as with _lover_ and _lovee_ (Richardson), _jester_ and _jestee_ (Sterne). Many such are nonce-words (I have noted _awakee, mentionee_, (AmE) _rumoree_, and _suggestee_ in recent times); but others. like _abductee, addressee, amputee_ (20C), _employee_, (AmE) _enrollee, escapee, evacuee, examinee_, (AmE) _retiree_, (AmE) _standee_ (a standing passenger), and _trainee_, look likely to be permanent. It should be noted that some words in _-ee_ have the force of ‘one who is -------ed’ (_employee_) with parallel agent-nouns in _-er_ (_employer_); while others, remarkably, are added to intransitive verbs and mean ‘one who ------s’ (_attendee, escappe, standee_). > > (p. 239) Personally, i put ‘mentee’ in the group that _Fowler’s_ defines as risible, and another one i really hate is ‘standee.’ ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/14 "2003-02-11T06:14:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JS Princeton \* > \*\*I hate the way mentee is used. Does a tutor tutor a tutee? \*\* My handy Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language (Second College Edition) has a 1974 copyright date. The reference features an entry for **tutee** , but none for **mentee**. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/15 "2003-02-11T10:14:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JS Princeton \* > \*\*I hate the way mentee is used. Does a tutor tutor a tutee? Come on! It’s stupid. \*\* Yeah, and does an employer employ an employee? ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/16 "2003-02-11T11:29:22Z")
IMHO thats different - an “employer” is “one who employs” and an employee is “one who is being employed” a mentor is **not** “one who ments” so you cannot have a “mentee”. Does that make sense?? ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/17 "2003-02-11T11:31:18Z")
thinking about it actually - if you were to accept **mentor** as a verb then i suppose technically you could use the cumbersome **mentoree** Which sounds like some kind of world-wide get-together involving scouts 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![auliya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@auliya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auliya)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/18 "2003-02-11T12:13:27Z")
We use the cumbersome word “mentoree” in Australia. No one thinks twice about it. I have never heard of a “mentee”, perhaps it is uniquely American ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/19 "2003-02-11T14:35:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by garius \* > thinking about it actually - if you were to accept **mentor** as a verb You mean, maybe find it in a dictionary somewhere? OK, I think we can do that. > [@](#): > > then i suppose technically you could use the cumbersome **mentoree** Why not use the less cumbersome mentee? Such abbreviating is done in language all the time. But I think they should pronounce it ment-_ock_. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241/20 "2003-02-11T15:06:05Z")
Aah. Further ground to spread my gospel. The optimal word is – **TYRO**. I successfully launched an anti-mentee campaign in our offices several years back, accompanied by frequent postings of uses of the word tyro in media - most recently in last Sunday’s Trib crossword. Tyro is now the most commonly used term in our offices, both in casual speech, meetings, and written communication. Plus, tyro is just a really cool word, and fun to say. At least I have SOMETHING to be proud of after 16+ years of government employ… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mentee-the-subject-of-a-mentors-attention-a-real-word-historically/154241.md?page=2)