Bedtime Is a Time, a Routine and a Kind of Story
Bedtime is the hour at which someone usually goes to bed. It also names the ritual around it, which is why bedtime story and bedtime routine are such fixed phrases.
Bedtime is the customary hour for going to sleep. It is rarely a fixed clock time and usually a household habit, which is why it can be enforced, moved, or missed. Children have a bedtime; adults mostly just have a bed.
- The usual hour for sleeping. *His bedtime is half past seven.*
- The routine before sleep. *We do bath, book, bed at bedtime.*
- Suitable for that hour (adjective). *A bedtime story.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | bedtime | Long past bedtime. |
| Compound | bedtime story | One more bedtime story. |
| Compound | bedtime routine | A calm bedtime routine. |
| Related | curfew | A ten o'clock curfew. |
| Related | lights out | Lights out at nine. |
How it is used in a sentence
- It is past your bedtime.Said to children, and jokingly to adults.
- Take one tablet at bedtime.At bedtime is standard on medicine labels.
- He reads to her every night at bedtime.The routine sense rather than the clock sense.
Times of day with their own compound
- Bedtime — when sleep begins
- Suppertime and dinnertime — when the meal is served
- Playtime and breaktime — the school day marked out
- Closing time — when a pub or shop turns people out
- English builds these freely, and each one names a habit as much as an hour
The word is a plain Old English compound, recorded from the fifteenth century. What changed is the routine around it: *bedtime story* only became a set phrase once cheap printed books for children were common.
At bedtime or by bedtime?
At bedtime means at that moment. By bedtime means before it arrives: *finish your homework by bedtime*.
Is bedtime one word?
Yes. Bed time as two words is rare and looks like an error in modern writing.