minutow

Minutow is a fictional temporal unit used in worldbuilding and speculative fiction. It has no universal meaning outside its fictional context, and its duration is defined by the author or system in which it appears.

Etymology and variants: The name blends "minute" with an invented suffix, and its length is not standardized. In some works, a minutow is a fraction of a standard day; in others it equals a handful of seconds. Writers may use minutow to control pacing or to synchronize activities across distributed fleets.

Applications: In science fiction worldbuilding, minutow can mark the gap between sensor readings, the execution window for a cockpit maneuver, or the resolution of a timekeeping device on a spacecraft. In strategy games and role-playing settings, a minutow may be a programmable time step to regulate turns or events.

Relation to real units: Because there is no fixed value, readers must consult in-world glossaries or source material to determine the minutow duration. This flexibility mirrors the broader tradition of fictional timekeeping, where units are defined to suit narrative or gameplay needs.

See also: time unit, minute, worldbuilding, game design, narrative pacing.