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Could you help me on this? In my native language I would speak about the "night" starting from around 11 pm till 4 in the morning. So every time I see an English phrase like "2 o'clock in the morning" I get confused.

Helen
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    "One o'clock in the morning" means one o'clock at night. – Robusto Sep 08 '15 at 14:02
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    Do you think '2 o'clock in the morning' might somehow actually mean '2 o'clock in the afternoon', as that's the only alternative? I suppose I can see your point if someone says '11 o'clock at night' for 11pm, but again, unless you're above the arctic circle, the distinction with '11 o'clock in the morning', or any normal representation of 11am, is surely clear. – JHCL Sep 08 '15 at 14:10
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    Yes, English usage is confusing. We'd talk about 'night driving' from dusk till say dawn, but 'one (etc) o'clock in the morning'. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 08 '15 at 14:28
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    I always related it to what I was doing. If I have to get up, it is 1 in the morning, if I have not yet gone to bed, it is 1 at night. – mplungjan Sep 08 '15 at 14:41
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    The really annoying people are those who include 12.00am or 12.00pm on announcements, especially airlines. What are you do suppose if you see that the flight leaves at 12.00am on 18th September? 12.00 is neither am nor pm, it is either noon or midnight. – WS2 Sep 08 '15 at 14:45
  • @JHCL - I imagine the OP isn't confused so much that someone means "1 in the afternoon" when they hear "1 in the morning". It's more about how the phrasing is just strange and inconsistent. Like if I said "It's 5 o clock at night!" instead of "it's 5 o clock in the afternoon", you probably wouldn't be confused and think "wait does he mean 5AM or 5PM" but you would think it sounded strange. We distinguish between afternoon and night based on that part of the day (light or dark), but we use "in the morning" for the entire AM 12 hour range (light or dark). – Anthony Jan 15 '21 at 16:46

7 Answers7

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Morning means after I wake up. Night means after I go to bed. 1 o'clock in the morning means you've woken me up so knock off that damn racket. 1 o'clock at night means I've have fun staying up late so stop complaining about the racket I'm making. So yes they both mean 1 am.

The way we talk about time has a lot to do with how we feel about it.

1 pm is of course expressed as 1 o'clock in the afternoon.

candied_orange
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    12pm is always noon. 12 am is always midnight. – Jim Jun 17 '16 at 04:43
  • So if I work the graveyard shift and don't wake up until 6PM to go to work at 8PM, I wake up at 6 in the morning? What if I go to bed at 9PM and those dang neighbors wake me up with that racket at 11:30PM? – Anthony Jan 15 '21 at 16:53
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Actually, its a bit confusing because even in English, both (morning and night) could be correct depending on the context.

Firstly, its fine to say that 11PM to 4AM is night time, because the sky is obviously dark outside and visibility is almost non-existent.

But its also correct to say "2AM in the morning" because all the international timezones consider 12:00 AM midnight to be the time when the date changes. And since by definition, morning is the time when a day starts or begins, its perfectly fine to say "I'm writing this answer at 2AM in the morning" because the day (17th June) has just started two hours ago.

Prahlad Yeri
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    But you wouldn't say "7 in the afternoon". And worse, you wouldn't say "4 at night". "at night" generally can only be 6-7 PM. But maybe I live in an area where it gets dark around 4:30PM and the sun doesn't come up again until 6AM the next morning. So you almost never hear "5 at night" but if you did, you would very likely assume 5PM, and I can only assume most people, if they heard "4 at night" would assume 4PM, even though in most places, 4AM is when it is dark out and 4PM is usually sunny. Basically we need a 4th figure of speech, something similar to "afternoon" but for "after midnight" – Anthony Jan 15 '21 at 16:51
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Anything AM can be referred to as morning, and anything PM as night. Generally these will be broken into morning (AM), afternoon (PM), evening (PM) and night (PM). People sometimes confuse the earlier AMs because it's still dark outside, but 2 AM is 2 in the morning, not night.

RoseofWords
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Thanks for the question.

Morning technically begins at sunrise, which can vary by location and time of year.

Sunrise signifies the start of a new day. It is technically correct to say 'see you tomorrow' after midnight, and mean that you will see that person after sunrise.

The word morrow means morning, and tomorrow means at morningtime, or the next daytime.

Morning ends and Evening begins after the sun reaches the zennith, its highest point in the sky, regardless of the time of day.

Nighttime begins after the sun has set, and also varies by location and time of the year.

The anti-meridian (am) hours after midnight are technically considered night hours before sunrise, and day hours after sunrise... For example, in places where the sun has risen at 5am it is technically morning, however at 5am somewhere the sun has not yet risen, it is still night.

Post-meridian (pm) hours are considered day before sunset and night after sunset.

Midday and midnight are not precisely the middle of the day and night according to sunrise and sunset. They simply mean 12 o'clock during the day or night.

Afternoon means strictly after 12pm, ending in the evening when it starts getting dark.

I hope this clarifies a few misconceptions and settles any arguments.

Yann Toole
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  • So it can be the afternoon and the evening simultaneously? – Jim Aug 08 '20 at 21:27
  • "Evening begins after the sun reaches the zennith" - The dictionary says that that is "Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S." usage. It doesn't say how common that usage is in that region, but not being from there myself I have literally never heard the word used that way. – nnnnnn Aug 09 '20 at 00:47
  • Webster's 1828 dictionary defines it as starting at midnight, but then continues with the words "in a more limited sense" followed by your definition. I would propose that technically it starts at midnight, but that your definition falls in line with another answer here that suggests it's based on how we feel about it. – BVernon Aug 08 '22 at 05:36
  • Morning refers to the time shortly before sunrise as well. If you have to get up at 6am but the sun doesn't rise till 8am, I think anybody would call 6am "morning". – Stuart F Aug 08 '22 at 22:31
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The dark hours after 12 midnight can colloquially be referred to as either morning or night. It is considered morning because it is ante meridian (a.m.), but can be considered night because the sun isn't up.

My personal experience indicates that anything between 4:00 a.m. and 12 noon typically isn't referred to as "night". Reasons? Here is some speculation:

  • During the winter months, the sun sets before 5:00 p.m. in many parts of the country, so "five o'clock at night" could refer to either 5:00 a.m. (it's still dark) and 5:00 p.m. (the sun has set).
  • During the summer months, the sun rises before 6:00 a.m. in many parts of the country.
Paul Rowe
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  • Nobody calls the day, night. – tchrist Sep 08 '15 at 14:05
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    'The country' seems to assume something about membership demographics. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 08 '15 at 14:25
  • @EdwinAshworth I can't speak for the UK regarding this usage, but the ambiguity of "night" during the winter would apply in the UK as well as the US, though the ambiguity of "night" during the summer would be abbreviated (since the UK doesn't keep DST). – Paul Rowe Sep 08 '15 at 14:29
  • I'm just rather concerned that 'the country' isn't specified. It doesn't appear to be 'the one' where 'the language' largely originated. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 08 '15 at 14:40
  • Daylight Saving is practiced in the UK, by the way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Time_in_Europe – JHCL Sep 08 '15 at 14:46
  • The dark hours after midnight, even more colloquially, can be called "the witching hour". But that's even less likely to make sense to most people. – Anthony Jan 15 '21 at 16:54
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The term is often used subjectively and it is appropriate to mention this fact. However, I believe people come here to learn the most objective answer.

To know the most objective answer, you would need to study how a word is used over time. Both how it was originally used and how it is used today.

The 1828 Webster's dictionary is one of the more accessible resources we have for finding out word usage in early America. It suggests that morning starts at midnight; however it also acknowledges a more limited sense of morning as being from first sunlight.

I believe the former to be the technical definition and the latter to be the subjective way in which the word is often used.

The important thing is, in regard to your question, that night and morning are not exclusive. 1am can be considered the morning and it can be considered night. Night has to do with an absence of daylight, regardless of the time.

BVernon
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Let's look at this logically shall we?...If 12 a.m. is the MIDDLE of the night (Mid-Night) then that means there MUST be nearly an equal amount of 'Night' on either side of it, as it is in the 'Middle'.

'Night' is defined as: "The period of time between 'Evening' and 'Dawn' ". People tend to get confused at the difference between the terms 'DAY' and 'DATE'. If it is Monday and it becomes 2 a.m., since the light of the sun is no longer visible in the sky then that is the 'Night-of-the-previous-day", so it is 'Monday-Night'. However, one-minute AFTER 'Midnight' is the next "CALENDAR-'DATE", So if Monday is the 3rd of the month then one minute after Midnight is the 4th of the month, but it is STILL the "Night-of-the-previous-day", hence it is still Monday-'Night' as it is after 'Evening' but before 'Dawn' as technically 'Morning' begins "When the Sun first becomes visible above the horizon",....just prior to that it is 'Dawn', which is defined as: "That period of time just before 'Morning' when the sky is light but the sun is not yet visible above the horizon" (AKA' Daybreak'). Just as 12:00-noon is also known as 'Midday', which means the 'Middle of the day', this infers that there is about an EQUAL amount of 'DAY' on either side of it. To clarify: The chronological order of the most common terms identifying the apportionment/division of 'DAY' and 'NIGHT' are as follows;

DAWN/DAYBREAK= The period of time that extends from just after the LIGHT of the Sun becomes visible in the sky until the moment the first-bit of the SUN-ITSELF becomes visible just above the horizon. MORNING= The period of time from when the Sun first breaks the horizon until Noon. NOON/MIDDAY=12pm. AFTERNOON= The period of time between Noon and Sunset. SUNSET/SUNDOWN= The period of time between when the Sun touches The horizon till it is JUST no longer visible below the horizon. EVENING/DUSK/TWILIGHT= The period of time from when the Sun has JUST disappeared below the Horizon until the light of the Sun is no longer visible in the sky. NIGHT/NIGHTFALL=The period of time from when the light of the sun is no longer visible at all until Dawn.

This list is simplified and does not include some of the more archaic and therefore lesser-used terms (such as 'Forenoon'). It is also best to remember that A.M. and P.M. have NOTHING AT ALL to do with the terms 'Morning' or 'Night',....as A.M. stands for 'Ante-meridian, and P.M. stands for 'Post-meridian'. .... I hope this clears things up a bit.

Josh Hayl
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  • Packed with (unreferenced) information, I'm sure there's an answer to the question in there somewhere. We like answers to-the-point and supported by links to authoritative sources where possible. (From review). – Jiminy Cricket. Jul 15 '20 at 22:50
  • Whoever said 12am is the "middle"? – BVernon Aug 08 '22 at 05:44
  • Sorry, that was a dumb statement as it is called MIDnight. Just ignore me, . I think night starts when it becomes dark, but I think the exact middle of the night shifts based on dusk and dawn. That's what I should have said. – BVernon Aug 08 '22 at 05:56
  • "ante meridian" is often considered morning, as it refers to the time before noon. Midnight is not the middle of the night, but 12 am; this is variously because of daylight savings time, and places which do not lie precisely on a meridian or which choose to use a different time zone. Afternoon is noon-sunset in winter, but in summer when the sun doesn't set till 9 or 10, afternoon does not cover the latter part of this; informally afternoon is until evening meal or going home from work. – Stuart F Aug 08 '22 at 22:34