VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

午前

ごぜん

hepburn gozen

morning, AM

Part of speech · noun

Pattern visualization

前front

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Examples

会議は午前十時からです。
The meeting is from 10 a.m.
午前中に終わります。
It'll finish before noon.

Collocations

午前 (gozen, morning / a.m.)午前中 (gozenchuu, during the morning)午前様 (gozensama, coming home after midnight)午前0時 (gozen reiji, midnight on the 24h clock)午前の部 (gozen no bu, morning session)

Mnemonic

午前 gozen — 午 (noon) + 前 (before): before noon = a.m. The kanji 午 was once the Horse of the zodiac and the hour of noon — old noon was the Horse's hour. The same 午 lives in 午年 (Year of the Horse) and in 端午 (the Dano festival). One character threads time, zodiac, and festival on a single line across East Asia. Kanji-reading kin: 午 reads Korean 'o', Mandarin wǔ.

Quick check

Idiomatic meaning of 午前様?