"minute" in seven languages
Meaningminute
Spanish
minuto
/miˈnuto/
masc.learned
French
minute
/minyt/
fem.learned
Italian
minuto
/miˈnuto/
masc.learned
Portuguese
minuto
/miˈnutu/
masc.learned
Romanian
minut
/miˈnut/
neut.learned
plural: minute
Catalan
minut
/miˈnut/
masc.learned
English
minute
/ˈmɪnɪt/
from Latin/French · Old French minute (Medieval Latin minūta)
English → ItalianminuteminutoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
MINŪTAM (pars minūta prīma)‘small (part): the first small division of the hour’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Medieval scholars split the hour into 'first small parts' and 'second small parts' — hence minute and second. French alone made it feminine.
English relatives: minute, minutiae, diminish
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLlego en cinco minutos.
- frJ'arrive dans cinq minutes.
- itArrivo tra cinque minuti.
- ptChego em cinco minutos.
- roAjung în cinci minute.
- caArribo d'aquí a cinc minuts.
- enI'll be there in five minutes.