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# What do A.M. and P.M. actually stand for?
- URL: https://editorialstage.wordgenius.com/what-do-am-and-pm-stand-for/
- Published: 2019-07-09T18:10:37.000Z
- Updated: 2019-07-09T18:10:37.000Z
- Description: In Latin, a.m. stands for ante meridian. Translated, this means before midday. The counterpart, p.m., stands for post meridian, which, you guessed it, translates to after midday.
- Author: Jennifer Freeman
- Tags: History, Blog

Every day of your life is split into 24 hour-long increments. Each of these hours can be counted, from the first one (hour 0) to the last one (hour 23). 

The 24-hour clock is simply counting how many hours have been completed that day. Although the 24-hour clock is widely used in Britain, the U.S. military and various places around the world, North Americans and Australians are far more accustomed to the to its simpler, 12-hour cousin.

The 12-hour clock pivots at 12:00 noon, around the time when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. According to the 12-hour clock, everything in the day is either before noon (the morning), or after noon (cleverly named the afternoon).

By splitting the 24-hour clock in half, you are doing two counts: how many hours have elapsed before noon, and then how many hours have passed after noon.

In order to differentiate between these two 12-hour counts, we use the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. You would think that b.n. (before noon) and a.n. (after noon) would make more sense, however 17th-century Englishmen opted to use Latin instead. 

In Latin, a.m. stands for *ante meridian*. Translated, this means before midday. The counterpart, p.m., stands for *post meridian*, which, you guessed it, translates to after midday.

To further clarify, it was decided that 00:00, the start of the day, would be known as 12:00 a.m., or midnight, and 12:00, high noon, would be known as 12:00 p.m. Though, to avoid confusion, many prefer to stick with 12:00 midnight or 12:00 noon.