fiveminute

Five-minute (and the plural five minutes) refers to a duration of five minutes, equal to 300 seconds. When used as a modifier before a noun, the standard form is hyphenated: a five-minute break, a five-minute presentation. After a verb, the duration is typically written as five minutes, as in it lasted five minutes.

Spelling and branding: The form fiveminute without spaces or a hyphen is uncommon in formal writing but may appear as a stylized brand name or in digital contexts. In such cases, it functions as a proper noun or product name rather than a grammatical unit.

Usage and applications: Five-minute intervals are common in scheduling and time management as short, easily achievable blocks for tasks. They are also used in media and events to define brief program segments, in education for quick lessons or summaries, and in everyday planning—for example, arranging a five-minute walk between activities.

Language and culture: The phrase appears in idioms such as five minutes of fame, illustrating how minute is used as a unit of time within figurative speech. The flexibility of the term allows it to describe exact durations or approximate time windows in diverse contexts.

See also: minute, time measurement, short duration.