Supplemental Guarantor Information - Consolidating Condensed Balance Sheet (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Nov. 30, 2017	May 31, 2017	Nov. 30, 2016	May 31, 2016
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 236,002	$ 169,266	$ 143,573	$ 139,357
Marketable securities	22,732	22,219
Accounts receivable, net	763,555	736,008
Inventories, net	272,830	278,218
Uniforms and other rental items in service	674,572	635,702
Income taxes, current	35,700	44,320
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	38,058	30,132
Assets held for sale	0	38,613
Total current assets	2,043,449	1,954,478
Property and equipment, net	1,353,159	1,323,501
Investments	175,663	164,788
Goodwill	2,811,796	2,782,335
Service contracts, net	565,574	586,988
Other assets, net	29,160	31,967
Total assets	6,978,801	6,844,057	4,214,579
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	162,981	177,051
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	113,430	149,635
Accrued liabilities	577,960	429,809
Debt due within one year	300,000	362,900
Liabilities held for sale	0	11,457
Total current liabilities	1,154,371	1,130,852
Long-term liabilities:
Debt due after one year	2,534,222	2,770,624
Deferred income taxes	539,043	469,328
Accrued liabilities	198,132	170,460
Total long-term liabilities	3,271,397	3,410,412
Total shareholders’ equity	2,553,033	2,302,793
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	6,978,801	6,844,057
Eliminations
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories, net	(1)	(1,386)
Uniforms and other rental items in service	(18,636)	(18,993)
Income taxes, current	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Assets held for sale		0
Total current assets	(18,637)	(20,379)
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Investments	(6,404,479)	(6,402,479)
Goodwill	(111)	(112)
Service contracts, net	0	0
Other assets, net	(5,241,593)	(5,000,837)
Total assets	(11,664,820)	(11,423,807)
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	37,948	38,108
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Debt due within one year	0	0
Liabilities held for sale		0
Total current liabilities	37,948	38,108
Long-term liabilities:
Debt due after one year	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Total long-term liabilities	0	0
Total shareholders’ equity	(11,702,768)	(11,461,915)
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	(11,664,820)	(11,423,807)
Cintas Corporation
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories, net	0	0
Uniforms and other rental items in service	0	0
Income taxes, current	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Assets held for sale		0
Total current assets	0	0
Property and equipment, net	0	0
Investments	321,083	321,083
Goodwill	0	0
Service contracts, net	0	0
Other assets, net	1,766,703	1,516,463
Total assets	2,087,786	1,837,546
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	(465,247)	(465,247)
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Debt due within one year	0	0
Liabilities held for sale		0
Total current liabilities	(465,247)	(465,247)
Long-term liabilities:
Debt due after one year	0	0
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Accrued liabilities	0	0
Total long-term liabilities	0	0
Total shareholders’ equity	2,553,033	2,302,793
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	2,087,786	1,837,546
Corp. 2
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	42,126	48,658	46,561	57,893
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	586,992	543,769
Inventories, net	224,217	243,677
Uniforms and other rental items in service	562,724	531,295
Income taxes, current	(16,790)	16,173
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	7,837	13,234
Assets held for sale		23,095
Total current assets	1,407,106	1,419,901
Property and equipment, net	875,883	851,018
Investments	3,598,267	3,605,457
Goodwill	0	0
Service contracts, net	483,985	505,698
Other assets, net	557	14,705
Total assets	6,365,798	6,396,779
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	(1,458,658)	(1,596,731)
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	101,379	94,505
Accrued liabilities	187,828	191,819
Debt due within one year	300,000	362,900
Liabilities held for sale		11,457
Total current liabilities	(869,451)	(936,050)
Long-term liabilities:
Debt due after one year	2,533,832	2,770,234
Deferred income taxes	0	0
Accrued liabilities	32,998	28,384
Total long-term liabilities	2,566,830	2,798,618
Total shareholders’ equity	4,668,419	4,534,211
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	6,365,798	6,396,779
Investments, including intercompany investments	20,300	29,000
Subsidiary Guarantors
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	83,515	17,302	2,425	55,392
Marketable securities	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	117,106	137,881
Inventories, net	31,994	21,466
Uniforms and other rental items in service	81,459	78,012
Income taxes, current	47,940	25,138
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	29,222	16,188
Assets held for sale		15,518
Total current assets	391,236	311,505
Property and equipment, net	366,041	364,724
Investments	947,722	929,657
Goodwill	2,770,504	2,742,898
Service contracts, net	0	0
Other assets, net	3,489,627	3,489,653
Total assets	7,965,130	7,838,437
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	2,162,751	2,292,388
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	6,141	42,866
Accrued liabilities	368,784	219,303
Debt due within one year	0	0
Liabilities held for sale		0
Total current liabilities	2,537,676	2,554,557
Long-term liabilities:
Debt due after one year	0	0
Deferred income taxes	492,999	436,613
Accrued liabilities	163,863	140,923
Total long-term liabilities	656,862	577,536
Total shareholders’ equity	4,770,592	4,706,344
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	7,965,130	7,838,437
Investments, including intercompany investments	155,400	135,800
Non- Guarantors
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	110,361	103,306	$ 94,587	$ 26,072
Marketable securities	22,732	22,219
Accounts receivable, net	59,457	54,358
Inventories, net	16,620	14,461
Uniforms and other rental items in service	49,025	45,388
Income taxes, current	4,550	3,009
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	999	710
Assets held for sale		0
Total current assets	263,744	243,451
Property and equipment, net	111,235	107,759
Investments	1,713,070	1,711,070
Goodwill	41,403	39,549
Service contracts, net	81,589	81,290
Other assets, net	13,866	11,983
Total assets	2,224,907	2,195,102
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable	(113,813)	(91,467)
Accrued compensation and related liabilities	5,910	12,264
Accrued liabilities	21,348	18,687
Debt due within one year	0	0
Liabilities held for sale		0
Total current liabilities	(86,555)	(60,516)
Long-term liabilities:
Debt due after one year	390	390
Deferred income taxes	46,044	32,715
Accrued liabilities	1,271	1,153
Total long-term liabilities	47,705	34,258
Total shareholders’ equity	2,263,757	2,221,360
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	$ 2,224,907	$ 2,195,102