Morning is the period from

sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

noon Noon (or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for meridiem, literally 12:00 noon), 12 p.m. (for post meridiem, literally "after noon"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour clock) or 1200 (military time). Solar ...

. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of

evening Evening is the period of a day that starts at the end of the afternoon and overlaps with the beginning of night. The exact times when evening begins and ends depend on location, time of year, and culture, but it is generally regarded as beginn ...

and

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of

daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunligh ...

at each time of year. However, morning strictly ends at noon, which is when

afternoon Afternoon is the time after solar noon. It is the time when the sun is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the horizon in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the standard work and s ...

starts. Morning can also be defined as starting from

midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

to noon. Morning precedes afternoon, evening, and night in the sequence of a

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

. Originally, the term referred to sunrise.

Etymology

The Modern English words "morning" and "tomorrow" began in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

as , developing into , then , and eventually . English, unlike some other languages, has separate terms for "morning" and "tomorrow", despite their common root. Other languages, like

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, Scots and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, may use a single wordto signify both "morning" and "tomorrow".

Significance

Greeting

Some languages that use the time of day in

greeting Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indivi ...

have a special greeting for morning, such as the English

good morning "Good morning" is a common greeting in the English language. It may also refer to: Television * ''Good Morning!!!'' (Australian show), a children's show * ''Good Morning'' (New Zealand show), a daytime talk show * ''Good Morning'' (Russian ...

. The appropriate time to use such greetings, such as whether it may be used between midnight and

dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

, depends on the culture's or speaker's concept of morning. The use of '''good morning is ambiguous, usually depending on when the person woke up. As a general rule, the greeting is normally used from 3:00 a.m. to around noon. Many people greet someone with the shortened 'morning' rather than 'good morning'. It is used as a greeting, never a farewell, unlike 'good night' which is used as the latter. To show respect, one can add the addressee's last name after the salutation: ''Good morning, Mr. Smith.''

Religious observances

Morning

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

is a common practice in several religions. The morning period includes specific phases of the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...

of Christianity.

Cultural use

For some, the word ''morning'' may refer to the period immediately following waking up, irrespective of the current time of day. This modern sense of ''morning'' is due largely to the worldwide spread of electricity, and the independence from natural light sources.

Genetics

The morning period may be a period of enhanced or reduced energy and productivity. The ability of a person to wake up effectively in the morning may be influenced by a

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

called " Period 3". This gene comes in two forms, a "long" and a "short" variant. It seems to affect the person's preference for mornings or evenings. People who carry the long variant were over-represented as morning people, while the ones carrying the short variant were evening preference people.Gene determines sleep patterns
/ref>

Gallery

File:The bay of Sorrento during the morning.jpg, The bay of Sorrento during the morning File:Misty morning02.jpg, Morning mist File:Yosemite Morning.jpg,

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...

in the morning File:Oxford Circus tube station - Rush hour.jpg, The first

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...

of the day is during the morning, London, April 2012 File:Udusse mattuv harilik vaher, punaste sügislehtedega. Läänemaa.jpg, Maple tree with red leaves in the morning mist. Western

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Time in astronomy Parts of a day