Editing 12-hour clock (section)

==Abbreviations==

[[File:Digital-clock-alarm.jpg|thumb|Typical [[digital clock|digital]] 12-hour alarm clock indicating ''p.m.'' with a dot to the left of the hour.]]The [[Latin]] abbreviations ''a.m.'' and ''p.m.'' (often written "am" and "pm", "AM" and "PM", or "A.M." and "P.M.") are used in [[English language|English]] (and [[Spanish language|Spanish]]).<ref>{{cite dictionary|dictionary=Diccionario panhispánico de dudas|url=http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=hora2|title=hora|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720024649/http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=hora2|archive-date=20 July 2011|url-status=live|language=Spanish}}</ref>{{efn-lg|name=Other|The equivalents in [[Greek language|Greek]] are {{lang|el|π.μ.}} and {{lang|el|μ.μ.}}, respectively, and in [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] {{lang|si|පෙ.ව.}} ({{transliteration|si|''pe.va.''}}) for {{lang|si|පෙරවරු}} ({{transliteration|si|''peravaru''}}, {{lang|si|පෙර}} {{transliteration|si|''pera''}} – fore, pre) and {{lang|si|ප.ව.}} ({{transliteration|si|''pa.va.''}}) for {{lang|si|පස්වරු}} ({{transliteration|si|''pasvaru''}}, {{lang|si|පස්සේ}} {{transliteration|si|''passē''}}&nbsp;– after, post).  In [[Irish language|Irish]], ''a.m.'' and ''i.n.'' are used, standing for ''ar maidin'' ("in the morning") and ''iarnóin'' ("afternoon") respectively. In Portuguese, there are two official options and many others used, for example, using 21:45, 21h45 or 21h45min (official ones) or 21:45 or 9:45&nbsp;p.m. Most other languages lack formal abbreviations for "before noon" and "after noon", and their users use the 12-hour clock only orally and informally.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}} In those languages, such as Polish, Russian, and Hebrew, 24-hour clock is always used in writing, even informal writing, though 12-hour designations may be used colloquially in speech, such as "9 in the morning" or "3 in the night".<ref>{{cite web |title=Jak poprawnie zapisywać daty i inne określenia czasu? |trans-title=How do I correctly write dates and other time expressions? |url=https://synomix.pl/jak-poprawnie-zapisywac-daty-i-inne-okreslenia-czasu |access-date=18 March 2025 |language=Polish}}</ref> In those languages, an email saying "let's meet at 15:00" might be read out aloud as "let's meet at three in the afternoon".}} 'Noon' is not abbreviated. 

When abbreviations and phrases are omitted, one may rely on sentence context and societal norms to reduce ambiguity. For example, if one commutes to work at "9:00", 9:00&nbsp;a.m. may be implied, but if a [[social dance]] is scheduled to begin at "9:00", it may begin at 9:00&nbsp;p.m.