French word

minute

Pronunciation

IPA/minyt/

Meaning

  • feminine nounminute

Example

Il reste cinq minutes.

Five minutes are left.

Illustration for minute (minute)

More examples

Attends une minute.

Wait a minute.

Core concept

A small slice of time that can mark either a brief pause or one measured turn of sixty seconds.

Common phrases

  • attendre une minute

    wait a minute

  • perdre une minute

    waste a minute

  • une minute de plus

    one more minute

Similar words

seconde: A unit of time equal to one second.
instant: An extremely brief span of time.
moment: A brief period associated with an event or point in time.
temps: Time as an ongoing flow in which events unfold.

Definition in French

Court laps de temps, souvent employé pour signifier un bref instant, et aussi unité égale à soixante secondes.

Word origin

French minute comes from Latin minutus, meaning "small," through the medieval expression pars minuta, "small part," for a small division of time.

Usage tips

  • Minute is feminine, so the forms are une minute and five minutes, as in Il reste cinq minutes.

Other meanings

  • momentnoun
  • little whilenoun

Word lists with this word