12-hour clock | Description, History, and Facts (2024)

12-hour clock, time convention that splits a 24-hour day into two equal 12-hour periods. The first is referred to as am, which stands for ante meridiem, “before midday” in Latin, while the second is referred to using pm, meaning post meridiem, or “after midday.” This nomenclature is based on the position of the Sun in relation to the meridian. In writing, periods can be added or omitted and lowercase letters can be replaced by their uppercase counterparts, resulting in “a.m.,” “am,” or “AM” and “p.m.,” “pm,” or “PM.”

History

In antiquity the number 12 appears to have been associated with myth and legend, as testified by the Labours of Hercules or the gods of Mount Olympus in ancient Greece. In Mesopotamia the year was divided into 12 based on lunar patterns, which coincided with the 12 zodiac signs, which may have prompted the emergence of the 12-hour clock introduced by the Babylonians. In ancient Egypt the night was divided into 12 equal parts due to the fact that at the beginning of the Egyptian year there were 12 asterisms (a group of stars that form a pattern in the night sky)—known as decans—that became visible over the course of the night. Their day was divided into 10, with 2 additional hours for the morning and evening twilight. Because the amount of daylight a location receives varies over the course of a year, the length of nighttime versus daylight hours grew and shrank in proportion to each other as the seasons progressed. Similarly, 12 hours elapsed between sunrise and sunset in ancient Rome, and the night was divided into four watches. As with the Egyptians, the hours were of unequal length. Both the Egyptians and the Romans used sundials during the day and water clocks, which were useful because they didn’t rely on the sky, for timekeeping purposes at night.

The Middle Ages witnessed the introduction of the first mechanical 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, and both systems were among several that were developed simultaneously. The oldest known mechanical clock, which was faceless, was added to the Dunstable Priory in Bedfordshire, England, in 1283. The 24-hour clock stemmed from astronomical time indications in Flemish and Italian contexts and purportedly sought to address the lack of synchronicity between timekeeping practices. Known as the Italian clock (or the große Uhr or ganze Uhr, “big clock” or “whole clock” in German), it spread to neighbouring countries but was deemed impractical at the time, as the striking clocks had to be moved ahead during the first half of the year and back during the second half and the strokes wore out the material. The mechanical 12-hour clock, which gauged time in “small hours” or “French hours,” became the more popular system over time, and the 24-hour dial gradually became reserved for specific contexts such as astronomy. However, the use of a conceptual 24-hour time system to tell the time has been prominent in most of the world since the 19th century, and Italy was one of the first countries to officially adopt it in 1893.

Modern variations

In the present day, several countries still use the 12-hour clock in written communication. Many of these are English-speaking due to British colonization and include the United States, India, New Zealand, and Australia. Countries that only use the 24-hour clock still make use of the 12-hour analog dial—namely, clocks divided into 12 parts—but tell the time by adding 12 to each number that would otherwise be expressed using the pm nomenclature. As a result, 1 pm becomes 13:00 while 7 pm is 19:00.

This chart converts times from the 12-hour clock to the 24-hour clock:

When am or pm is omitted, time expressions such as “in the morning,” “in the afternoon,” or “at night” are often included when using the 12-hour clock. This is common during oral communication but also in unofficial written communication. Countries that use both systems can be subject to ambiguity if the time expression is omitted and the context is unclear. This is exemplified by the use of the expression “eight o’clock” for a scheduled event, which could refer to 8 am or pm. The distinction between midnight and noon or midday is another potential source of confusion when communicating, as 12 pm is often used to refer to the former while 12 am can replace the latter. Midnight is especially problematic in communication, as it could refer to the previous or following day, which would require further clarification. When writing, it is recommended to use one system throughout the text to avoid misunderstandings.

When using the 12-hour clock, it is common practice in many languages to make use of fixed expressions in lieu of reading the numbers in relation to the minute hand, although both approaches are accepted. In English these include “quarter to” (as in “quarter to ten” for 9:45), “half past” (as in “half past nine” for 9:30), or “quarter past” (as in “quarter past four” for 4:15). Actual minute numbers can also be included in such expressions, as exemplified by “five minutes to five” (or “five minutes of five”) for 4:55 and by “fifteen past eleven” for 11:15.