2020-11-05 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด M – Meridian & meridiem

Revision M-Q

2020-11-05

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุดM – Meridian & meridiem

การใช้ภาษาอังกฤษที่ถือว่า ถูกต้องนี้เป็นไปตามมาตรฐานการใช้ภาษา

การใช้คำอังกฤษไม่กำหนดมาตฐานถือตามส่วนใหญ่ที่ใช้แต่ละท้องถิ่น

ความหมาย อาจยืดหยุ่นขึ้นอยู่กับ ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ในประโยค

Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง Meridian= ‘muh-RID-ee-uhn’

ส่วนmeridiemไม่มีการออกเสียงแสดงในDictiionary.com

Dictionary.com

What Do“a.m.” And “p.m.” Stand For?

Whatdoes “a.m.” mean?

Theterm we associate withthe morning, 

a.m.,is an abbreviation of theLatin phrase ante merīdiem 

meaning“before midday.”

Whatdoes “p.m.” mean

p.m.,isanabbreviation of post merīdiem,meaning“after midday.”

Thesetwo terms help keepambiguity at bay inthe 12-hour time system.

Whatdoes “m” mean?

Thereis a third,lesser-known abbreviation in this system: 

m. fromthe Latin merīdiēs meaning“midday” meansnoon.

However, m. israrely usedand mightconfuse readers or listeners

shouldyou casually drop it intoconversation orinsert it into your writing;

noonis conventionally expressed as 12p.m. or 12:00p.m.

andmidnightas 12 a.m. or 12:00a.m.

Doyou capitalize “a.m.” and “p.m.”?

Informal writing,

itis best to lowercaseboth a.m. and p.m.

andretain the periods(as opposed to writing them AM/PM or am/pm);

however,should you choose to use a different format,

themost important rule is tobe consistent throughout your piece.

Notethat when a.m. or p.m. enda sentence,

asin Thetrain is arriving at 10 p.m.,

itis not necessary to place anadditional periodat the end.

And,for our final writingtip,

sincethese abbreviations specifyan hour’s relation to noon,

itis not necessaryto use morning, evening, night,or o’clock withthem.

TheOldest Abbreviations In English

A.M. and P.M.

Mostpeople knowthat A.M. meansany time between midnight and noon,

and P.M. isused to describeany time after noon and before midnight,

butwhy?

Likemany abbreviations that have been around seemingly forever,

thesetwo come from Latin phrases. 

A.M. isan abbreviation for antemeridiem,

while P.M. comesfrom postmeridiem.

It’seasy to see why our forefathers decided to go with the abbreviationsinstead.

RandomHouse Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary,

usage: 

Theabbreviation a.m. refersto the period from midnight until noon.

One minutebeforenoon is 11:59 a.m.

One minuteafternoon is 12:01 p.m.

Many peopledistinguishbetween noon and midnight

bysaying 12noon and 12midnight. 

Expressionssuch as 6 a.m. in themorning and 9p.m. at night areredundant.

Dictionary of Problem Wordsand Expression

meridian & meridiem

These words are so closelyrelated in meaning

that using one for the other isunderstandable and usually unnoticed.

Meridian means“midday,” just as meridiem does.

Thus, postmeridian(one word) and post meridian (two words)

mean “occurring afternoon,” “in the afternoon.”

When the abbreviations A.M.and P.M. are spelled out,

the word should be meridiem(anti meridiem, post meridiem).