分钟
minute (duration)
HSK level
- Pinyin
- fēnzhōng
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 13
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 分钟
分钟 is written with 13 strokes (分: 4, 钟: 9). The animation replays automatically.
What does 分钟 mean?
分钟 (fēnzhōng) is the Chinese word for 'minute' as a duration — the unit of time, not a point on the clock.
Use it whenever you're measuring how long something takes: 五分钟 'five minutes,' 等一分钟 'wait a minute.' The key difference from English: when you tell the clock time, Chinese drops 钟 and just uses 分 — '3:15' is 三点十五分, never 三点十五分钟. So 分 alone names a clock minute; 分钟 names a span of minutes.
Also note that 分钟 is itself a noun acting like a unit, so you never need an extra measure word: say 五分钟, not 五个分钟. The character 钟 (originally 'bell / clock') is also the second character in 钟表 'clock' and 时钟 'wall clock.'
Character by character
Memory hook: 分 (divide) + 钟 (clock) — a 'division of the clock' is a minute.
Hear 分钟 in real episodes
分钟 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Browse the full episode libraryExample sentences
请等五分钟。
Qǐng děng wǔ fēnzhōng.
Please wait five minutes.
neutral
我十分钟以后到。
Wǒ shí fēnzhōng yǐhòu dào.
I'll arrive in ten minutes.
spoken
这个电影一百二十分钟。
Zhège diànyǐng yìbǎi èrshí fēnzhōng.
This movie is 120 minutes long.
neutral
你几分钟可以吃完?
Nǐ jǐ fēnzhōng kěyǐ chī wán?
In how many minutes can you finish eating?
spoken
Common phrases with 分钟
Don't confuse 分钟 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
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