2 entries found for noon.
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noon high noon

Main Entry: noon
Pronunciation: nün
Function: noun
Etymology: Old English nn "ninth hour from sunrise," derived from Latin nona, a feminine form of nonus "ninth," from novem "nine"
: the middle of the day : 12 o'clock in the daytime
- noon adjective
Word History Noon has not always meant "12 o'clock in the daytime." In the ancient Roman way of keeping track of time, the hours of the day were counted from sunrise to sunset. The ninth hour of their day (about 3 p.m. nowadays) was called nona, Latin for "ninth." In the early period of English, the word was borrowed as nn, also referring to the ninth hour after sunrise. By the 14th century, however, the word came to be used for midday, 12 o'clock, as we use it today.