Meaning Bot
What Is Military Time, How to Convert and Read It and More
Last Update:Have you ever seen those four-digit times like 0000, 1200, 2300 and wondered what they mean?
This system, known as military time or the 24-hour clock, counts the hours of the day from midnight (0000) to just before midnight the next day (2359) without using AM or PM.
Join us as we explore what exactly the military time is, how to read and convert it.
What Does Military Time Mean?
Military time /mɪləteri taɪm/, also known as 24-hour clock, is a timekeeping system that eliminates the morning (AM) and evening (PM) distinctions, is divided into 24 hours and begins at midnight, marked as 0000, and runs continuously until 2359, just before the following midnight.
Tonight at 8:20 and 20 seconds it will be 20:20:20 2020 in military time. This has never happened before and it will never happen again.
While 2400 indicates the exact end of a day, it does not actually exist as a time, as the new day immediately begins with 0000, 0001, and so on.
Military times from 0000 to 1200 directly match standard AM times (e.g., 0800 is 8:00 AM), while times after 1200 can be converted to standard PM by simply subtracting 12, for instance, changing 1500 to 3:00 PM.
In areas where timing is crucial, such as in the army or hospitals, it is used to avoid confusion by employing a four-digit format that represents hours and minutes, with 1:00 AM shown as 0100 and 1:00 PM as 1300, without a colon.
Additionally, military time includes time zones, each signified by a letter from the phonetic alphabet (e.g., 'Zulu' for GMT).
Military Time Chart
Where Does Military Time Come From and Which Countries Use It?
Military time, or 24-hour time, has its roots in ancient Egypt, where the Egyptians divided each day into 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime based on star movements.
As the time goes by, time measurement has evolved from the inconsistent hours provided by sundials to the reliable mechanical clocks that were developed in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly in Italy.
Although consistency was not an issue, localities relied on their own solar time, which varied by one minute for every 18 kilometers of east-west separation, and while this was manageable for short trips, the expansion of international transportation and telecommunication created a need for a standard 24-hour clock.
Military time started in ancient Egypt with 12-hour days and nights based on stars. In the 1800s, Sir Sandford Fleming’s 24-zone system set a global standard, later adopted by militaries. Today, it’s widely used worldwide.
Canadian engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, in the 1800s, proposed a system that divided the world into 24 time zones, each covering 15 degrees of longitude and representing one hour, starting at the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude), and his advocacy led to the International Meridian Conference in 1884, where delegates from 25 nations agreed to adopt his approach, establishing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the global standard.
Analog Military Clock
It was subsequently adopted by military forces, including the UK Royal Navy in 1914 and the U.S. Navy in 1920, as well as other global military branches, due to the importance of precision during World War II, which is why it is commonly referred to as 'military time' in the U.S., where the predominant clock format is 12-hour and the 24-hour system is primarily used in the army.
Currently, it is widely used as the regular time system in many countries around the world, especially in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Spain, and partially in the United Kingdom, among others.
How to Convert Military to 12-Hour Time (and Vice Versa)
To convert military time to regular time for hours up to 12 (noon), simply keep the time as it is, adding only 'AM', noting that 12:00 AM is 0000 in military time.
EXAMPLE
➲ 0930 becomes 9:30 AM.
➲ 0022 is simply 12:22 AM.
For times between 1300 and 2359, subtract '12' to get the equivalent PM hour.
EXAMPLE
➲ 1600 hours converts to 4:00 PM (since 16 - 12 = 4).
➲ 2235 hours converts to 10:35 PM (since 22 - 12 = 10).
Military Time Practice Game
Converting from standard to military time for morning hours (from 12:00 AM to 11:59 AM) is straightforward, as the hours remain the same but are represented with four digits, including a leading zero.
EXAMPLE
➲ 7:45 AM becomes 0745.
➲ 10:12 PM becomes 1012.
When converting an afternoon or PM time, add '12' to the hour to align with the 24-hour format.
EXAMPLE
➲ 3:15 PM converts to 1515 hours (since 3 + 12 = 15).
➲ 09:41 PM hours converts to 21:41 PM (since 09 + 12 = 21).
Handling unique cases such as 12:00 AM and 12:00 PM requires slight modifications: midnight (12:00 AM) translates to 0000 in military time, whereas noon (12:00 PM) is simply recorded as 1200.
Military Time Converter
How to Read Military Time
From midnight (0000) to the last hour of the day (2400), military time names whole hours in 'hundred' not as 'thousand' — 0000 is 'zero hundred (hours)', 1200 is 'twelve hundred (hours)' and 1700 is 'seventeen hundred (hours)'.
For those of you who don't know how to read "military time" (24 hour time) it's just, 13 is 1pm, 14 is 2pm, 15 is 3pm, 16 is 4pm, and so on, you can just count up from twelve if you're not sure just by looking at it
Leading zeros must always be included and pronounced, so times up to and including 0900 are expressed with a 0 (zero)—such as 0500 as 'zero five hundred (hours)' and 0900 as 'zero nine hundred (hours)'—while after 1200, the format changes to 'twelve hundred (hours)' for 1200, 'sixteen hundred (hours)' for 1600, and 'twenty-one hundred (hours)' for 2100.
When it comes to military time with minutes, the leading zero is a requirement as well, meaning 0251 is 'zero (or oh) two fifty one (hours)', 0845 is 'zero (or oh) eight forty-five (hours)', 1221 is 'twelve twenty-one (hours)', and 2036 is 'twenty thirty-six (hours)'.
Additionally, it, in a professional setting, include letters at the end of the time to denote the corresponding time zone; for instance '1400Z' signifies 2:00 PM UTC and is spoken as 'fourteen hundred Zulu'.
Military Time to Words Game
What Are Military Time Zones?
Military time includes 25 zones, each marked by a NATO letter, establishing a standardized global method for indicating time, enhancing communication and coordination in both military and international operations.
That classification assigns letters for the eastern zones from 'Alfa' (UTC+1) to 'Mike' (UTC+12) and for the western ones from 'November' (UTC-1) to 'Yankee' (UTC-12), while 'Zulu' (Z) corresponds to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and is known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Military Time Zones Map
Please note that some countries may encompass multiple time zones not represented on this map. Additionally, the colors used to indicate time zones may differ from the official UTC classifications. Always verify local time and time zone information for accuracy.
In notation, i.e., 10:30 AM in the UTC−4 zone is written as '1030B' and pronounced 'ten thirty Bravo', which is added to the end of the hour and spoken.
This zone is between 7.5°E and 22.5°E. It is 1 hour ahead of the basic time (UTC+01:00). If it's 12 PM (noon) in Zulu time, it’s 1 PM in Alfa. Major cities in this time zone include Berlin, Paris, and Rome.
❏ Let’s meet at 3 PM Alfa time; that gives us enough time to get ready.
Change Phone or Tablet to Military Time
Whether you are accustomed to military time, trying to learn it, or simply prefer the precision of a 24-hour format, changing that setting is something that takes less than a minute.
Change iPhone to Military Time
Change Android to Military Time
FAQs
Time resets to 0000 after 2359, marking the start of a new day. However, 2400 is sometimes used in schedules (like in the military or aviation) to indicate the end of a day, but it is less common.
No, 24 hours is one full day. It represents a complete cycle from one midnight to the next in a 24-hour period.
Yes, many Europeans, especially in countries like France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, use the 24-hour clock for official schedules like transportation, work hours, and events. However, in casual settings, some, particularly in places like Ireland, the UK, and Portugal, still use the 12-hour format.
1200 in the 24-hour clock format is 12:00 PM in the 12-hour format, representing noon. Midnight, on the other hand, is 0000 (or 12:00 AM in 12-hour time).
Yes, you may say "zero o'clock," however, it is more commonly referred to as "zero hundred hours" in military and formal contexts.
He is the founder of meaning.bot and holds a bachelor's in International Relations from DEU where he specialized in writing website content.