Is there an English counterpart for the unit of time `5 minutes` (一个字)?

There's a unit of time that is used by some Chinese speakers as 一个字 (let's call it Z for now). Each Z is equivalent to 5 minutes and there are 12 Zs in an hour. This comes primarily from my understanding of Cantonese; I don't believe this unit of time exists anywhere else outside of Cantonese.

Solution 1:

The closest "unit" is just what you said: five minutes. We have to start dealing with things like 三個字 or three five minutes, i.e.: fifteen minutes. Have a look:

ABC Canto

NOUN

M: 個 go3

1 five minutes

仲有三個字

zung6 jau5 saam1 go3 zi6

We still have fifteen minutes

八點五個字

baat3 dim2 ng5 go3 zi6

Twenty-five minutes past eight

要行兩個字度

jiu3 haang4 loeng5 go3 zi6 dou2

It takes about ten minutes to walk there

Wiktionary has:

(Cantonese, Min, Malaysia, Singapore) five minutes (derived from the locations of 1 to 12 on a clock face) (Classifier: 個／个 m c) quotations ▼

三個字 / 三个字 [Cantonese] ― saam1 go3 zi6 [Jyutping] ― fifteen minutes >[i.e. when the minute hand points to 3] 七點兩字 / 七点两字 [Min Nan] ― chhit tiám nn̄g jī [Pe̍h-ōe-jī] ― ten past seven

There might not be an equivalent unit of time in English but there are in Min, Malaysia and Singapore.