Precise names for parts of a day

Question

I have learnt these words so far, please correct me if I'm wrong:

• Dawn, maybe 4am–6am?
• Morning, maybe 6am–9am? The food for the morning is called breakfast. People greet each other Good morning!
• Noon, maybe 11am–1pm? The food is called lunch.
• Afternoon, maybe 2pm–4pm? People greet each other Good afternoon!
• Evening, maybe 6pm–9pm? The food for the evening is called supper. People greet each other Good evening!
• Night, maybe 9pm–11pm? However, Good night means "have a good sleep".
• Mid-night, maybe 11pm–1am?

You see, I've missed some parts of a day, I may be not correct on the time boundaries of each part, though.

I would like to complete the list, especially the part after the morning but before the afternoon. My teacher never told us to use the word noon, and good noon seems never used by anyone.

I would like to know each part of a day, its corresponding food term (like lunch, supper, etc.), and its corresponding greeting words, thanks.

Summary

I'll update the table to reflect the answers:

Part          Begin End   Meal             Greeting
------------- ----- ----- ---------------- ---------------------
morning/dawn   0:00  5:00                  
early morning  5:00  6:00                  Good morning
morning        6:00  9:00 breakfast        Good morning
mid-morning    9:00 11:59 elevenses/       Good morning
                          morning tea/
                          brunch
noon          12:00 12:00 -
afternoon     12:00 17:00 lunch/           Good afternoon
                          afternoon tea
evening       17:00 21:00 supper           Good evening
night         21:00 23:00 night-time snack Good evening
midnight      23:00  1:00                  Good night

Answer 1

A few points:

(a) Dawn refers to the time around the actual solar event that is sunrise.

(b) Morning refers to any time before noon, so 1am is still the morning.

(c) Very early morning is known as "the small hours" (or any regional variant of those words). The actual time is variable, although you will probably provoke a laugh from working people if you refer to any time after 7am in that way (and probably any time after 6am).

(d) Noon refer to 12pm (exact midday) and the time just around it. 1101 is not noon.

(e) Evening is variable in its usage, and is tied both to work schedules and the solar time. It's pretty much always correct to refer to the part of the day when the light begins to wane as "evening".

(f) Night refers to the time after sunset. Accordingly, it can be both morning and night (this being pretty much the definition of the small hours).

(g) Midnight refers to exactly 0000/2400 hours, and the time just around it. 2301 is not midnight.

(h) Good night does not mean "have a good sleep". It can be used as a farewell when it is late between friends whether or not anyone is planning on going home or not.

(i) Lunch is a meal taken between breakfast and the evening meal (howsoever called). It is not tied to any specific time beyond that.

(j) The main evening meal may be called "dinner", "supper", or "tea" depending on regional dialect and class. "Dinner" is probably the most neutral option in most dialects (although in some dialects, even then it may mean something else). If a second evening meal is taken, or a very late evening meal is taken, it might be called supper in distinction to dinner. This is not so common any longer.

(k) "Afternoon tea" is a specific meal. Its defining feature is not really that it is taken in the afternoon, but rather the elements it is composed of. These are tea, and some sort of baked good.

(l) We are not "fixing" you, because you are not broken. We are correcting you in so far as we think you are wrong.

(m) "Good afternoon" is only used after noon.

Answer 2

EDIT:

Part         Begin End   Meal             Greeting
-----------  ----- ----- ---------------- ---------------------
Early morning/
 wee hours    1:00  4:00                  Good morning
dawn          4:00  6:00                  Good morning
morning       6:00  9:00 breakfast        Good morning
Mid-morning   9:00 11:59 elevenses/
                         morning tea/
                         brunch           Good morning
noon         12:00 13:00 lunch            Good afternoon
afternoon    14:00 16:00 afternoon tea    Good afternoon
evening      16:00 21:00 tea/dinner       Good evening
night        21:00 23:59 supper           Good evening
mid-night    24:00  1:00                  Good evening           

Most of it is correct, here are a few suggestions:

"Good Evening" is used from 4 p.m. till even night. "Good night" as noted by yourself means to have a good night's sleep, so "Good Evening" is used instead.

"Evening" lasts from after Afternoon(4 p.m.) till after sunset, depending on where you live.

There is also "Dusk", which could be used for the time right after the sun goes beneath the horizon, and the sky is dim, but not dark.

EDIT:

"Morning" can also refer to the time after 1.00 a.m. onwards, but Dawn can only be used for just before and during the sunrise, and a little after.

Answer 3

I would call the time around 9-11am late morning. The meal is morning tea.

Additionally, the name for some meals varies around the world. In Australia, we would call the evening meal dinner or tea. Supper refers to a snack had late in the evening, before bed (what you have called night time snack in your table). In the UK (and please, any English correct me if I have this wrong!) dinner refers to the midday meal, and tea to the evening meal.

Great question, by the way. I'd never tried to think about this in such a rigid way before!

Answer 4

I'm totally an Asian educated in the English manner by Anglo-Indian teachers. They taught me the following:

1. The time just before sunrise - dawn
2. The time before 12.00 - morning; the meal is called breakfast (taken before 1100,
   after that - lunch)
3. The time after 12.00 and 15.00 - afternoon; 12.00 exactly is NOON. - meal after 1100 until 1500 is lunch)
4. Any thing, i.e., tea/coffee/any beaverage except hard drinks with snacks - tea (before 5.00 pm)
5. The time between 5.00pm and 8.00pm - evening and the meal is dinner
6. The time after 8.00pm is called night and any meals if taken at all is called supper) Now that they are dead and gone or if still alive they're not here in the country. So I can't verify with them.

Answer 5

In my experience, dawn is usually restricted to the time right around sunrise. The time between about 4 and 6 is often called early morning (and any time before that is "the middle of the night").

Also, the word supper is a bit of a regionalism (to me it's most familiar as a word used in parts of the Midwestern United States, although I think it's used in other parts of the US and other English-speaking countries as well). The more widely used word for the evening meal is dinner.