Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 meridiem, translating to "before midday") and p.m. (from Latin post meridiem, translating to "after midday"). [1] [2] Each period consists of 12 hours numbered: 12 (acting as 0), [3] 1, 2, 3, 4
The daytime canonical hours of the Catholic Church take their names from the Roman clock: the prime, terce, sext and none occur during the first (prīma) = 6 am, third (tertia) = 9 am, sixth (sexta) = 12 pm, and ninth (nōna) = 3 pm, hours of the day. The English term noon is also derived from the ninth hour.
As megalithic civilizations left no recorded history, little is known of their timekeeping methods. [3] The Warren Field calendar monument is currently considered to be the oldest lunisolar calendar yet found. Mesoamericans modified their usual vigesimal (base-20) counting system when dealing with calendars to produce a 360-day year. [4]
PM stands for “post meridiem,” meaning “after noon” or “after midday,” and as such applies to the times from noon onward. English-speaking countries have been using the “AM” and ...
For example, "half ten" means 10:30 (a.m. or p.m.). This is itself an abbreviation of an older colloquialism, "half past ten". The abbreviation can cause misunderstanding with non-native speakers as this contrasts with many European languages, where the same type of expression denotes 30 minutes before the hour.
The time of day is typically expressed in English in terms of hours. Whole hours on a 12-hour clock are expressed using the contracted phrase o'clock, from the older of the clock. [6] (10 am and 10 pm are both read as "ten o'clock".) Hours on a 24-hour clock ("military time") are expressed as "hundred" or "hundred hours".
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The character for gēng 更, literally meaning "rotation" or "watch", comes from the rotation of watchmen sounding these signals. The first gēng theoretically comes at sundown, but was standardized to fall at 19:12. The time between each gēng is 1⁄10 of a day, making a gēng 2.4 hours long (2 hours 24 minutes).