p.m.
/piːˈɛm/
"p-m" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“p.m.” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In the 12-hour period from noon to midnight (the latter half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock.
Corpus desk
Index EN-p-m · p.m. · English
p.m. · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-0 0 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | p.m. |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /piːˈɛm/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “p.m.” in English
Rare enough to double-check
p.m. is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb, transcribed /piːˈɛm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In the 12-hour period from noon to midnight (the latter half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for p.m., typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Abbreviation of post meridiem (“after noon”). The correct English form is p.m., spelled P-.-M-..
Definition
- 1In the 12-hour period from noon to midnight (the latter half of the day) when using the 12-hour clock.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how p.m. appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
HOURLY PRECIPITATION … 9 PM THROUGH 12 PM (MIDNIGHT) ZERO DAILY TOTAL
We never say 12 a.m. or 12 p.m. It's either 12 midnight or 12 noon, respectively.
Etymology
Abbreviation of post meridiem (“after noon”).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.