heure

Heure is a French noun meaning hour. It denotes both the duration of time (one hour) and the point on the clock corresponding to a moment in time. It is feminine: une heure; the plural is heures. The term appears in many daily phrases, such as opening hours (les heures d'ouverture) and the time of day (l’heure du jour) as well as in mathematical and scheduling contexts.

Etymology: The word heure comes from Latin hora, through Old French, with cognates in other Romance languages such as Spanish hora and Italian ora. The lineage reflects its long-standing use to denote a specific moment or a duration of time.

Usage: To tell time, French normally says Il est X heures, where X is the hour number. In the 24-hour system, this becomes Il est quatorze heures (14:00). For 1 o'clock, one says Il est une heure. For durations, use une heure or deux heures to express length: "une heure" (one hour) or "deux heures" (two hours). The term also appears in compound phrases like heures d'ouverture (opening hours), heures légales (legal time), and heure locale (local time).

Variations and related terms: French commonly uses a 24-hour clock in writing and official contexts, while spoken language often mixes formats and may include parts of the day such as du matin, de l'après-midi, or du soir to indicate morning, afternoon, or evening. Specialized terms include heure universelle coordonnée (UTC) and heure sidérale (sidereal time). The concept of time zones is expressed with phrases like heure locale and fuseaux horaires.

In modern usage, heure remains central to timekeeping, scheduling, and everyday expressions of time in French.