12 Noon Means Am Or Pm

What day is midnight.

12 noon means am or pm. Strictly speaking 12 a m. The american heritage dictionary of the english language states by convention 12 am denotes midnight and 12 pm denotes noon. At 12 noon the sun is at its highest point in the sky and directly over the meridian. Using numbers from 1 to 12 followed by am or pm the 12 hour clock system identifies all 24 hours of the day.

The abbreviation am stands for ante meridiem before the sun has crossed the meridian line and pm stands for post meridiem after the sun has crossed the meridian line. There is nothing to tell us is this the beginning or ending of the day. 12am and 12pm are both incorrect. The abbreviations am and pm derive from latin.

Midnight has another problem. Neither should be used. A m means ante meridiem which means before midday and p m. The american heritage dictionary of the english language fourth edition 2000 has a similar usage note on this topic.

Midnight as i say above is 12 hours after noon of the current day but technically it s also 12 hours before noon of the next day. Denotes midnight and 12 p m. It is therefore neither ante am nor post pm. Because of the potential for confusion it is advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight e.

Means noon and 12 p m. You should really pay attention to the abbreviation. It runs from midnight to noon. Midnight and noon 12 am and 12 pm can cause confusion so we prefer 12 midnight and 12 noon.

Richards in his book mapping time provided a diagram in which 12 a m. The second period marked pm covers the 12 hours from noon to midnight. Pm post meridiem. Am ante meridiem.

The convention however as is the case with digital clocks is to display midnight as 12 00 a m.