People are finally learning the actual meaning of a phrase — and it’s “o’clock.”
A woman who goes by @jenny_nuel1 on Threads asked her followers if anyone knows what the “o” actually stands for.
The “o” in “o’clock” stands for “of the.”
John Brown, who goes by @johnbrown2812 on Threads explained, “The phrase ‘o’clock’ is a contraction of ‘of the clock,’ which was historically used to specify the time according to the clock.”
“For example, saying ‘it’s 3 o’clock’ originally meant ‘it is 3 of the clock.’ Over time, ‘of the’ was shortened to just ‘O,’ leading to the phrase we commonly use today.”
This explanation was backed up by the experts at the Britannica Dictionary, who taught that “an apostrophe is used in o’clock because the word is a contraction of the phrase ‘of the clock.’”