What is the full form of am and pm in clock?
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer:
The full form of a.m. is ante meridiem, and the full form of p.m. is post meridiem.
Explanation
The abbreviations a.m. and p.m. are used to divide the 24-hour day into two 12-hour periods on a 12-hour clock system, which is commonly used in many parts of the world.
Ante meridiem (a.m.) is a Latin phrase that means “before midday” or “before noon”. It refers to the time from midnight (12:00) to just before noon (11:59). For example, 7:30 a.m. means seven hours and thirty minutes after midnight.
Post meridiem (p.m.) is also a Latin phrase that means “after midday” or “after noon”. It refers to the time from noon (12:00) to just before midnight (11:59). For instance, 3:45 p.m. means three hours and forty-five minutes after noon.
This time division helps avoid confusion between morning and evening times. Instead of saying “I woke up at 7 o’clock,” which could refer to either morning or evening, adding a.m. or p.m. clarifies the time. Saying “7:00 a.m.” clearly means morning, while “7:00 p.m.” means evening.
The 12-hour clock system repeats every twelve hours. To represent a full 24-hour day, we use both a.m. and p.m. once each. While digital clocks often show time in a 24-hour format (for example, 13:00 instead of 1:00 p.m.), many people still use the 12-hour format in daily conversation, especially in countries like the United States, Canada, and Kenya.
In summary, a.m. stands for ante meridiem meaning before noon, and p.m. stands for post meridiem meaning after noon. These terms help organize time into two clear halves of the day.
