Evening is usually considered the part of the day between late afternoon and night, often starting around 5–6 p.m. and running until about 9–10 p.m., depending on culture, season, and context.

What people generally mean by “evening”

Most modern English guides and explanations put evening roughly here:

  • Starts: around 5–6 p.m. (when work/school typically end, sun starts lowering or has set).
  • Ends: around 9–10 p.m. (when night or “late evening” takes over).

Some examples:

  • Afternoon: about 12 p.m. to 5–6 p.m.
  • Evening: about 5–6 p.m. to 9–10 p.m.
  • Night/late evening: roughly 9–10 p.m. onward.

So, if you say “this evening” for a plan at 7:30 p.m., almost everyone will find that natural.

Why there’s no sharp cutoff

There isn’t a single universal time when afternoon officially flips to evening; it’s partly about light, habits, and place.

  • Season: In winter, people may call 4–4:30 p.m. “early evening” if it’s already getting dark.
  • Summer: The same 4 p.m. is usually still clearly “afternoon,” and evening may not feel like it starts until 6–7 p.m. or later.
  • Context: In everyday planning, 4 p.m. is usually treated as afternoon, but in a story, “early evening” might describe a dark, 4 p.m. winter scene.

Different people also draw the lines differently; for example, some informal polls and forum threads label evening as anything from 4–7 p.m. or 6–9 p.m.

Practical rule of thumb (for greetings & plans)

If you just want something simple you can safely use in most situations:

  1. Before 5 p.m. → call it afternoon (“this afternoon”, “good afternoon”).
  2. After 6 p.m. → call it evening (“this evening”, “good evening”).
  3. Between 5 and 6 p.m. → either works; choose based on:
    • How dark it is (darker → evening).
    • What you’re doing (after-work social plans often feel like evening).

This flexible window matches how many English speakers actually talk, while still fitting common explanations and etiquette guides.

TL;DR: For most everyday purposes, it’s considered evening from about 6 p.m. until around 9–10 p.m., with a grey area from roughly 5–6 p.m. that can go either way depending on light, season, and context.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.