12pm or 12am? Is midnight 12am? Is noon 12pm?
Compare it Versus > Grammar > 12 pm or 12 am? Is midnight 12 am? Is noon 12 pm?
| This is a question we get all the time. 12pm or 12 am? And I understand why it is so confusing. But let’s keep the answer is simple. Technically speaking, there is no correct way to say it. However, for most people: 12 a.m. is midnight AND 12 p.m. is midday or noon. Probably better to stick to the 24 hour clock system. |
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Let’s explore this 12 time confusion
12 o’clock at night or 12 o’clock during the day.
Easy, right?
But why then does it get so tricky with midnight or noon.
Well, we firstly need to think about the way we express time.
And this AM and PM business.
12 hour clock
The 12 hour clock format is especially popular in USA, Canada and Australia, but it is used throughout the world.
And one of the biggest issues with this way of keeping time is the commonplace confusion about abbreviation to use for noon or midnight. The date designator can be confusing as well.
Here is an example.
Imagine I asked you to pick me up from the airport at 12am on 2nd of September.
Would you pick me up at noon or midnight? Also, would you pick me at midnight between the 1st and 2nd of September or a day later?
Would I end up waiting at the airport and end up catching the taxi?
But back to AM and PM.
Meaning of AM and PM
In the 12 hour clock system, the day is divided into two 12 hour periods.
The names for each one are derived from Latin.
So, the first one is ante meridiem (am or a.m.), directly translating to “before midday”. This relates to a 12 hour period of time before the sun has crossed the meridian.
The second one is post meridiem (pm or p.m.), translating to “after midday”. This would then relate to the 12 hour period after the sun has crossed the meridian.
Makes sense.
However, here is where the problem arises.
Noon and midnight.
When it is precisely noon, the sun is directly over the meridian, meaning it is neither before nor after the meridiem. So, it is not 12am or 12pm!
And exactly the same thing applies to midnight….
Which means neither am nor pm is correct!
So should I use 12am or 12pm?
There is no official standard for this.
Obviously you can explain the time further, for example 12 o’clock at night or day or even say 12:05am or pm to be clear.
But most people would agree that:
12pm is noon or midday.
12am is midnight.
This how I think about it.
When the clock has reached noon, it is already past noon, so it after midday, meaning 12pm.
When the clock has reached midnight, it is already past midnight so before midday, meaning 12am.
What time is midday or noon?
To summarise, most people would agree it is 12pm.
What time is midnight?
Most people would agree it is 12am.
24 hour clock
Probably to avoid some of the confusion of the above, most of the world has adopted the 24 hour clock system.
In fields like medicine, where time is crucial, in order to eliminate any ambiguity, 24 hour time is always used in the whole world.
It is also called military time in the USA.
In the 24 hour system, the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours.
So noon is 12:00 and midnight is 24:00 which is the same as 00:00.
It is considered that historically, Egyptians were the first to create the 24 hour clock system of keeping time.
Do you make errors when you write 12pm or 12am or other numbers or words in English?
Or do you have any tips to remember how to write it correctly?
Leave your opinions in our comments section below.
Also let me know if you have any other confusing English words you want me to cover in the blog section.
And please don’t leave me at the airport if you are supposed to pick me up at 12pm or 12am!
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