There are 90 Seconds in a Moment

January 24, 2013 at 2:00 am Chad Upton

By Chad Upton

It will only take you a minute to read this post.

Although a minute is a precise amount of time, we often use it to mean a short amount of time. The same goes for “moment”; the difference being that most people don’t know that a moment is a precise measure of time.

Technically, a moment is 90 seconds.

The first reference comes from 1398, found in the Oxford English Dictionary. Cornish writer John of Trevisa wrote that there are 40 moments in an hour (hence 90 seconds each). Oxford has since replaced it with, “a very brief period of time.”

So go on, continue using it as a casual measure of time — now you know the real meaning.

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Photo: Peter Pearson (cc)

Sources: oxford dictionary, wikipedia (moment)

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Entry filed under: Demystified, History and Origins. Tags: 1.5, 90, minutes, moment, seconds.