What is the 'hour of the wolf'?

A Scandinavian concept for the hour around 4 AM, when nightmares are most common, the most people die in their sleep, and the most births occur. Named after the Ingmar Bergman 1968 film.

Why is 4 unlucky in East Asian cultures?

In Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean, the word for 'four' sounds similar to the word for 'death.' This phobia (tetraphobia) leads to buildings skipping the 4th floor, much like Western buildings sometimes skip 13.

When was 🕓 added to Unicode?

Unicode 6.0, released in October 2010. Part of the original 12 hourly clock faces from SoftBank's Japanese carrier emoji set.

←🕞🕟→

🕓️

Four O’clock Emoji

Travel & PlacesU+1F553:clock4:

44:00clockfouro’clocktime

About Four O’clock 🕓️

Four O’clock () is part of the Travel & Places group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E0.6. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.

Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode.

Often associated with 4, 4:00, clock, and 3 more keywords.

Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.

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How it looks

What does it mean?

An analog clock face showing 4:00. Four o'clock is the waiting hour. At 4 PM, the workday isn't over but the end is visible. It's the stretch where clock-watching starts in earnest. At 4 AM, it's what Ingmar Bergman called the "hour of the wolf"): the deepest, darkest part of the night, the hour when the most people die in their sleep and the most births happen.

Part of the original 12 hourly clocks from SoftBank's Japanese carrier emoji, standardized in Unicode 6.0 (2010). Ranks in Unicode's Group 15, the lowest usage tier.

Used for scheduling and the pre-quitting-time lull. Less culturally loaded than 🕔 (quitting time) or 🕒 (tea time / witching hour), but it fills a practical role in time-specific messages. At 4 AM, it pairs with insomnia and existential-dread content.

Pre-quitting time4 AM insomniaAfternoon appointmentsHour of the wolfSchool pickup (in some areas)

What does the 🕓 emoji mean?

It shows four o'clock on an analog clock. At 4 PM it's the pre-quitting-time stretch; at 4 AM it's the 'hour of the wolf,' the deepest part of the night in Scandinavian folklore.

Pick a city, see its time

Approximate time in any major city, shown as one of the 24 clock face emojis. No precise seconds, no precise minutes: just the vibe of the hour.

🕛

… in Stockholm

Customize and embed this clock on your own site →

Where in the world is it 🕓 right now?

Major cities whose approximate time currently rounds to 🕓. Recomputes every minute as the world turns.

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Every Hour of the Day

All 24 clock face emojis in time order, from 1:00 through 12:30. Unicode covers every full and half hour of a 12-hour dial.

🕐

Speed

🕐🕜🕑🕝🕒🕞🕓🕟🕔🕠🕕🕡🕖🕢🕗🕣🕘🕤🕙🕥🕚🕦🕛🕧

The Clock Face Family

Unicode has 24 clock face emojis: 12 hourly clocks from SoftBank's 1997 Japanese carrier set and 12 half-hour clocks from Wingdings. All 24 shipped in Unicode 6.0 (2010).

🕐One O'Clock

The default 'time' emoji for most people, thanks to keyboard position.

🕜One-Thirty

Half-hour Wingdings variant. Post-lunch scheduling.

🕑Two O'Clock

Early afternoon or the small hours of the night.

🕝Two-Thirty

Mid-afternoon, the pre-slump stretch.

🕒Three O'Clock

Afternoon tea, school pickup, or the 3 AM witching hour.

🕞Three-Thirty

School pickup time across much of the world.

Emoji combos

🤔The unluckiest number in East Asia

Four is avoided in China, Japan, and Korea because it sounds like "death." If you're communicating across cultures, be aware that 🕓 carries associations beyond just the time.

Fun facts

•Ingmar Bergman's 1968 film Hour of the Wolf) named the concept of 4 AM as the hour when "the most people die, the most births occur, and the most nightmares torment us." The concept appears in Scandinavian folklore.
•In Chinese numerology, 4 (四, sì) is considered unlucky because it sounds like the word for "death" (死, sǐ). Many buildings in China, Japan, and Korea skip the 4th floor, and phone numbers containing 4 are avoided.
•4 PM is when the British afternoon tea tradition historically started, though the Duchess of Bedford (who originated the custom) initially took tea at around 4:00 before it shifted to 4:30-5:00.
•The human body reaches its lowest core temperature around 4 AM. This circadian low point is why shift workers and long-haul drivers are most vulnerable to fatigue-related accidents in the early morning hours.

Sources

More Travel & Places

🕛Twelve O’clock 🕧Twelve-thirty 🕐One O’clock 🕜One-thirty 🕑Two O’clock 🕝Two-thirty 🕒Three O’clock 🕞Three-thirty 🕓Four O’clock 🕟Four-thirty 🕔Five O’clock 🕠Five-thirty 🕕Six O’clock 🕡Six-thirty 🕖Seven O’clock 🕢Seven-thirty

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