Meaning of the word o’clock baffles people on social media

Do you know what you are saying when you use this common phrase? It turns out, many people don’t.

Do you know what the ‘o’ in o’clock actually means?

The question has been making the rounds on social media platforms Threads and X, formerly Twitter, exposing just how many people have never stopped to think about it before.

O’clock is defined as a word used to indicate the hour of the day or night, or to indicate a position or direction as if on a clock dial.

But it is a contraction of the words “of the” clock, just as don’t is a contraction of “do not”.

Some people guessed it meant “on the dot,” which means exactly at a particular time.

Others suggested it indicated the shape of a clock is round, or it stood for zero minutes (like 9 o’clock meant 9.00, not 9.01 or any other time).

The ‘o’ in o’clock mean ‘of the’ clock. Picture: istock

People also confessed it was something they had never considered before.

“l have no clue come to think of it,” one person wrote.

“Lol, I’ve never even thought of it,” said another.

“I don’t think it has a meaning,” claimed a third.

British teacher Laurie Knox, who has 1.3 million followers on TikTok, has explained the origin of the phrase in a video.

He said when mechanical clocks became popular, many towns would only have one in the local church and many didn’t have clock faces. They would just have the ringing of bell on each hour.

“Back then if you said to someone ‘I’ll meet you at 6’ they wouldn’t have a clue what you were talking about, so you would say ‘I will meet you at 6 of the clock’ – basically when the church bell strikes six times,” he said.