Daylight Saving Time - Terminology

Terminology

Although daylight saving time is considered to be correct, daylight savings time (with an "s") is commonly used. The form daylight saving time uses the present participle saving as an adjective, as in labour saving device; the first two words are sometimes hyphenated, as in daylight-saving time. The common variants daylight savings time and daylight savings use savings by analogy to savings account. Daylight time is also common. Willett's 1907 proposal used the term daylight saving, but by 1911 the term summer time replaced daylight saving time in draft legislation in Britain, and continental Europe uses similar phrases, such as Sommerzeit in Germany, zomertijd in Dutch, horario de verano or hora de verano in Spain and l'heure d'été in France, whereas in Italy the term is ora legale, that is, legal time (legally enforced time) as opposed to "ora solare", solar time, in Winter.

The name of local time typically changes when DST is observed. American English replaces standard with daylight: for example, Pacific Standard Time (PST) becomes Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). British English calls UK time British Summer Time (BST), and typically inserts summer into other time zones, e.g. Central European Time (CET) becomes Central European Summer Time (CEST). Abbreviations do not always change: for example, many (though not all) Australians say that Eastern Standard Time (EST) becomes Eastern Summer Time (also EST). In Australia it is also called EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)

The American English mnemonic "spring forward, fall back" (also "spring ahead ...", "spring up ...", and "... fall behind") helps people remember which direction to shift clocks.