A.m. and p.m.: What do they mean?
Those two abbreviations stand for "ante meridiem" and "post meridiem". They mean "before noon" and "after noon" in Latin.
Because most clocks today use the 12-hour incremented display to divide the 24-hour day, a new method of reading time was invented. Right now, when reading time and including a.m. after the reading, it means that the time is between 0:00 and noon, and if p.m. is included, it means between noon and 0:00.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
119 Comments
Jim Moser
Folks, AM really means Ante Meridian and PM really means Post Meridian. It all has to do with the earth revolving on it axis and when the sun crosses the Prime Meridian on the earth. Times before the sun crosses the Meridian are 'Ante' or before and times after the sun crosses the Meridian are 'Post' or after. These concepts are all from basic Astronomy.
127
Jan 30, 2016 5:57PM
Kristi Stevens
Well, considering such poor choices for alternative answers, the choice seems VERY obvious...
43
Feb 20, 2016 2:34AM
Carlos Cruz
And just when I thought all the dumb people had posted, Amazing morning and time to work.
22
May 1, 2015 5:45PM
Lydia Coutts
100 years ago, 100 monkeys were given 100 typewriters. In that time, they collaboratively managed to produce the selection of answers to this question.
At least that's what I assume happened.
16
Apr 3, 2016 3:15PM
Larry Freeman
Eric Bittner
Almost correct--but no cigar. NEWS FLASH: You're both wrong. The actual term in a.m. and p.m. is 'meridiem', not meridian. You'd think a "Professor of Chemistry and Physics" would know that... guess not.
10
Apr 4, 2016 12:31AM
Chris Braun
Ante=before, post=after. Diem=day, as in carpe diem. Meridiem=midday. Meridian is different. It's explaining a line which cuts the Earth in half; a midline
8
Jan 9, 2019 9:15PM
Eric Bittner
Almost correct. The meridian crossing is your local (or standard) meridian, not the Greenwich meridian, which defines local or standard noon.unless you're in the UK, in which case your description is correct.
8
Mar 25, 2016 2:28AM
Kevin Dale Streets
It's not 0:00, it's 12:00 a.m.
0
Feb 22, 2022 3:22PM
Judd Zillioux
24 hour time is the way to go. World Time. 0001 thru 2400. For afternoon times, simply add 12. Example: 3pm is 1500 hours.
0
Feb 14, 2022 8:32PM
raymond parker
Kind of explains it in the answer but fine to join in Jim Moser ,
0
Nov 30, 2021 8:32PM
earle knowles
Spc Kook Dude, cut and paste is only right if you cut and paste from the right source. Check the latin, it's meridiem when it modifies the time designation. If it modifies a task or described appointment, it would properly be used as a compound word with the "an" ending, as in "postmeridian duties".
'
2
Aug 15, 2020 3:15AM
Quiz Taker
I wake up in the Early Morning A.M. feeling groggy from the previous night Excedrin P.M.
0
Aug 11, 2020 3:47PM
Nancy Mueller
Meridians are circles of longitude. Meridiem is Latin for half day.
You decide which words make more sense for a.m. and p.m. : half a circle of longitude or half a day
0
Aug 1, 2020 4:26PM
Doreen Henricks
I had a job once, where I was taught that 12 noon was am and 12 midnight was pm, because 12 midnight correlates to 2400, the last hour of the day. Made sense to me, but the rest of the world (well, except for the IRS) doesn’t seem to see it that way. Since then, I have never written am or pm after the number 12. I always write, “12 N”, or “12 MN”.
0
Jul 4, 2020 10:51PM
herbsgal
Elma Griffiths, And I flunked it and French, as well! LOL Still graduated - Braintree, Mass. High School - class of 1949 - and I have survived to be 88 years old, so far.
0
May 5, 2020 3:09PM
joycekingsmith
Eric Fuller, l didn't know anyone but myself thought in those terms.
0
Feb 25, 2020 7:35AM
Spc Kook Dude
Wrong! I cut/paste all my answers so I am always right. read the question. The 12-hour clock is a time convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods: a.m. (from Latin ante meridian, translating to before midday) and p.m. (from Latin post meridian translating to after midday).
Each period consists of 12 hours numbered: 12 (acting as zero),1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. The 24 hour/day cycle starts at 12 midnight (usually indicated as 12 a.m.), runs through 12 noon (usually indicated as 12 p.m.), and continues just before midnight at the end of the day. The 12-hour clock was developed from the middle of the second millennium BC to the 16th century AD.
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2
Jan 25, 2020 2:26AM
txbuzywoman
After midnight and past midday was how I was taught in elementary school. Easier to remember I think.
1
Nov 28, 2019 10:00PM
Spencer
Latin meaning should have been an answer option.
1
Nov 27, 2019 2:29AM
SusieQ.
10/10 correct. Must be a genius. Nah, just know stuff.
1
Nov 18, 2019 10:02PM
Jamie
Not correct answer but all wrong choices.
1
Oct 16, 2019 11:44PM
Elizabeth Shepherd
ante and post meridian
0
Sep 1, 2019 9:00PM
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