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- Times Of The Day
Times Of The Day
| Wakati | Time |
|---|---|
| alfajiri | dawn (or wee hours of the morning; think 4 AM) |
| asubuhi | morning (arbitrary - any time before noon, really) |
| adhuhuri | noon |
| mchana | daytime (arbitrary-I would say around noon±2 hours) |
| jioni | evening (also arbitrary, I would personally say 4 PM to 7 PM) |
| alasiri | mid to late afternoon (~ between 12 and 4 PM) |
| magharibi | evening/sunset, so 6 PM (magharibi also means 'west', so that's a way to remember that) |
| usiku | nighttime (arbitrary - basically if it's dark out) |
| usiku wa manane | midnight/dead of night |
People just tend to say what time it is and follow it up with 'mchana', 'usiku', 'asubuhi' or 'jioni' to make the time of day clear e.g. 'saa nane mchana' to mean '2 PM'.
Some of these terms are relative, and the major ones used on a regular basis are: asubuhi, jioni, usiku, and mchana. The rest are typically used by news channels to mark the different times the news airs; in Kenya at least, most channels air news at 6/7 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, 9 pm, and sometimes 11 pm. For example, the channel Citizen has Citizen Alasiri which is news that airs at 4 pm.
[All credits go to @machieng!]
2 Comments
Four of these times of day come from Islam's times of prayer (salat):
Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise. - alfajiri
Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest. - adhuhuri
Salat al-'asr: the late part of the afternoon. - alasiri
Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset. - magharibi
Src: https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/salat.shtml
great post ! what should however be noted is that, as you pointed out, '2 PM' is 'saa nane mchana', which if literally translated to 'eight (nane) o'clock' would be incorrect.
