Meaning & use
mins or min
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Meanings
abbreviation
A short written form of 'minute' or 'minutes', used for measuring time.
Grammar: Both spellings are common; 'min' is the standard written symbol, while 'mins' shows a plural and feels more informal.
Patterns
- 5 min
- 10 mins
- min or mins after a number
The recipe says to boil the eggs for 6 min.
Give me ten mins and I'll be ready to leave.
The bus ride takes about 25 mins in the morning.
nounpluralinformal
A spoken shorthand way of saying 'minutes', especially when talking about waiting or timing something.
Grammar: In speech people often say 'mins' instead of the full word 'minutes'; it always follows a number or a word like 'a few'.
Patterns
- a few mins
- in five mins
- take ten mins
I'll be there in a few mins, so don't start without me.
The kettle takes about three mins to boil.
She said the meeting would last twenty mins at most.
Common combinations
- a few mins
- I'll be back in a few mins.
- ten mins
- The walk to the station takes ten mins.
- in five mins
- Dinner will be ready in five mins.
- min or mins
- Write '5 min' or '5 mins' on the form.
Synonyms and how they differ
- minutes
- The full, standard word; use it in formal writing where 'min' or 'mins' would look too casual.
- min
- The singular written symbol; it is the usual choice in tables, labels and recipes.
Word family
- minute noun
- A unit of time equal to sixty seconds.
- minute hand noun
- The longer hand on a clock that shows the minutes.
Commonly confused: mins or min or mint? mins or min or min.?
mins or min vs mint
Sounds almost the same in fast speech, but 'mint' is a plant or a place where coins are made, not a unit of time.
mins or min vs min.
With a period, this abbreviation can also stand for 'minimum' or 'minister', so the meaning depends on context.
Practice
Which sentence uses the short form correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Mins' works as an informal plural after a number, so '90 mins long' is natural. Option 2 uses the singular written symbol, which is possible in a table but odd in a full sentence, and options 3 and 4 are not grammatical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mins or min”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.