Heteronym
"Minute" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say MIN-it when it means 60 seconds (noun), and my-NOOT when it means extremely small (adjective). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
noun
MIN-it
60 seconds
“Wait one minute.”
adjective
my-NOOT
extremely small
“The details were minute.”
Each button speaks the respelling, not the spelling — otherwise the speech engine would pick a single default pronunciation for both senses.
| Pronunciation | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| MIN-it | noun | 60 seconds |
| my-NOOT | adjective | extremely small |
"Minute" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say MIN-it when it means 60 seconds (noun), and my-NOOT when it means extremely small (adjective). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
Pronounced MIN-it, "minute" is a noun meaning 60 seconds. For example: "Wait one minute."
Pronounced my-NOOT, "minute" is a adjective meaning extremely small. For example: "The details were minute."
"Minute" is a heteronym: two distinct words that happen to be spelled the same way. English spelling did not standardise around pronunciation, so unrelated words sometimes converged on one spelling while keeping separate sounds.
See the full entry for “minute”, browse all 76 heteronyms and stress pairs, or learn how English stress works.