We say \u201co\u2019clock\u201d countless times without thinking about what the word actually means. Yet the small \u201cO\u201d has a history that goes back hundreds of years. The word is a shortened form of the older phrase **\u201cof the clock.\u201d** So, when people once said \u201cIt\u2019s three of the clock,\u201d they simply meant that it was three according to the time shown by a clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before mechanical clocks became common, people used sundials, water clocks, hourglasses, candles, and the position of the sun to estimate the time. As mechanical clocks became more widespread during the Middle Ages, saying \u201cof the clock\u201d helped make it clear that the time came from a clock rather than another method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over time, everyday speech naturally became shorter. Instead of saying \u201cfive of the clock,\u201d people gradually began saying **\u201cfive o\u2019clock.\u201d** The longer version eventually disappeared, but the shortened expression remained part of English. The apostrophe in \u201co\u2019clock\u201d is a small reminder of those missing words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
English contains many other expressions that preserve similar pieces of its past. **\u201cJack-o\u2019-lantern,\u201d \u201cwill-o\u2019-the-wisp,\u201d** and **\u201cne\u2019er-do-well\u201d** all contain older shortened forms. These words show how frequently used expressions can change while still keeping traces of their original structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next time you say \u201cIt\u2019s six o\u2019clock,\u201d you\u2019re using a phrase with centuries of history behind it. What sounds like a simple letter is actually a shortened form of **\u201cof the clock.\u201d** It\u2019s a fascinating reminder that everyday language is constantly changing, and even the smallest words can carry stories from the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We say \u201co\u2019clock\u201d countless times without thinking about what the word actually means. Yet the small \u201cO\u201d has a history that goes back hundreds of years. The… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6989,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6988\/revisions\/6989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bzerbros.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}