Afternoon is the period between noon and evening. The term lacks a precise definition because it was in use long before accurate time-pieces became widespread. Hence, words and phrases that refer to general periods in the day were more practical.
The term should not be confused with "after noon" (two separate words), which is a translation of the Latin post meridiem (p.m.), meaning a time of day between 12:00 midday and 12:00 midnight.
In Australia and New Zealand, "arvo" is slang for afternoon.
Famous quotes containing the word afternoon:
“The fifties—they seem to have taken place on a sunny afternoon that asked nothing of you except a drifting belief in the moment and its power to satisfy.”
—Elizabeth Hardwick (b. 1916)
“In the woods in a winter afternoon one will see as readily the origin of the stained glass window, with which Gothic cathedrals are adorned, in the colors of the western sky seen through the bare and crossing branches of the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)