How to pronounce “minute”
“minute” is said two ways
/ˈmɪnət/
MIN-it
Sixty seconds. Beat on MIN, and the second syllable is barely there.
/maɪˈnut/
my-NYOOT
Meaning tiny. Beat on the second syllable, and the first is the word “my”.
Listen for the beat, not the letters
One syllable gets longer, louder and a step higher, and the other one collapses towards a schwa. Say the whole sentence rather than the word on its own and let the grammar pull the beat where it belongs.Both forms live in one sentence here: “It took a minute to spot the minute crack in the glass.”Each button plays a short phrase rather than the bare word: the model voice takes its stress from the words around it, so asking it for “minute” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the noun and the adjective. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “minute” in 2 beats
minute
/ˈmɪnət/
Everything in this card describes the noun form. As an adjective it is /maɪˈnut/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ˈmɪnɪt/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- mɪmɪstress
- nətnət
- IPA (American)
- /ˈmɪnət/
- IPA (British)
- /ˈmɪnɪt/
- Respelling
- MIN-it (noun) · my-NYOOT (adjective)
- Syllables
- 2 — MꞮ-nət
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: MꞮ-nət. “mɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun, adjective
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
American and British are not the same here
This is the noun form in two accents — a separate question from the two pronunciations above, which are the same accent saying two different words.
/ˈmɪnət/
/ˈmɪnɪt/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “minute” goes wrong
- Often heard
“MIN-it differences”
meaning tiny it is my-NYOOT, rhyming with newt
What “minute” means
- noun
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
“he ran a 4 minute mile”
- noun
an indefinitely short time
“wait just a moment”
- noun
a particular point in time
“the moment he arrived the party began”
Say it in a sentence
“It took a minute to spot the minute crack in the glass.”“minute”, answered
How do you pronounce “minute”?
“minute” has two pronunciations: /ˈmɪnət/ as a noun and /maɪˈnut/ as an adjective — the part of speech decides which. The spelling never changes; the beat does, and the vowels reshape around wherever it lands. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the noun form. Build it as MꞮ-nət, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “minute” have?
2: mɪ · nət. The beat lands on the first, “mɪ”.
Which pronunciation of “minute” is correct?
Both are. /ˈmɪnət/ (MIN-it) as a noun; /maɪˈnut/ (my-NYOOT) as an adjective. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does. Move the beat and the word changes its job mid-sentence, which is why both are worth drilling. Both appear here: “It took a minute to spot the minute crack in the glass.”
Is “minute” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈmɪnət/ (MIN-it); British English says /ˈmɪnɪt/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “minute” mean?
As a noun: a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour For example: “he ran a 4 minute mile” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “minute”?
Stress the first syllable: MꞮ-nət. “mɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Now say “minute” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.