37

I know that AM/PM is for ante/post meridiem, but what is it actually called? Meridian indicator? 12 hour indicator? Something way more clever?

|improve this question
34

Answer

Oddly enough, this question seems to already have been answered at StackOverflow. The distinction is called the period.

Aside

As for the actual meanings of AM/PM, they come from the Latin "ante meridiem" ("before noon") and "post meridiem" ("after noon").

|improve this answer
  • 4
    ha! wtf... why would that be asked on SO? anyways, thanks! – Jason Jul 22 '11 at 22:44
  • any comment on 'ante-meridian'? – Mitch Apr 1 '13 at 4:20
  • 11
    @Jason, because software developers think about naming variables properly. It is built into the Object-Oriented mindset. Jader, a commenter, said it well: "It's funny that the question intrinsically is not programming related, but all programmers can understand why you posted it here." – rajah9 Jun 3 '13 at 16:51
  • 3
    @rajah9 this is actually why i asked this question in the first place ;) – Jason Jan 7 '14 at 18:34
  • 2
    @Json and that was the reason I found your post XD – BananaAcid Dec 28 '18 at 2:31

protected by Community♦ Jun 3 '13 at 16:37

Thank you for your interest in this question. Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).

Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.