Mins

Mins is the informal plural form of the unit minute, a measure of time. A minute is defined as 60 seconds and is commonly used to express short durations and intervals in daily life, travel, scheduling, and timing events. The official symbol for the unit is min, which remains the same for both singular and many technical contexts, though in ordinary writing people often write mins in plural phrases.

Usage of mins appears most commonly in informal writing, note-taking, and everyday speech. It is frequently seen in schedules, clock displays, and casual sports commentary, such as “the match starts in 10 mins.” In formal or technical writing, the preferred form is to write the word “minutes” or to use the symbol “min” after a number (for example, 5 min). In many style guides, mins is accepted in running text but not in formal tables or scientific documents.

Conversions and relationships to other time units: 1 min = 60 seconds, 60 min = 1 hour, and 24 hours = 1 day. The minute is a non-SI unit that is accepted for use with the International System of Units; the SI base unit for time is the second. In computing and data logging, durations are often recorded in minutes for convenience, with seconds used when higher precision is required.

Etymology and history: The term minute comes from Latin minuta horae, meaning a “little hour.” The abbreviation min reflects this origin, while mins is simply a pluralized informal form used in everyday text.