Is "正午" precisely 12:00-pm? Does it feel different than saying "昼十二時"?


Doesn't "正午" mean 12:00-pm down to the last minute? Unless one needs to be
extremely precise, "昼{ひる}十二{じゅうに}時{じ}" or "午前{ごぜん}十二{じゅうに}時{じ}" sounds better?
Each means "12-pm" but the latter two have an implied leeway of 2 minutes (or
so)?

btw, is there a word that means _exactly_ 12:00-am (midnight)?




In terms of strictness in daily conversations, I feel 正午 and 昼12時 are the
same. Whether you say 正午に会いましょう or 昼12時に会いましょう doesn't really matter. Whether
you can come at 12:03 PM depends on the situation.

If you absolutely need to indicate you need minute-level precision for some
reason, don't use 正午 or 12時 anyway. Say 12時[0]{れい}分[0]{れい}秒ぴったり, or whatever.

Saying 午前12時 is not recommended because it's really confusing. 午後0時 is safer:
[Do 午前 / 午後 change depending on
minutes](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33702/5010)

Strict "midnight" is 深夜0時 or 午前0時.
[真夜中【まよなか】](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%9C%9F%E5%A4%9C%E4%B8%AD) is a close word
which can sometimes mean strictly 0:00 AM, but I feel 真夜中 tends to be less
strict than "midnight" because it usually means "the middle of the night."




In terms of strictness in daily conversations, I feel 正午 and 昼12時 are the
same. Whether you say 正午に会いましょう or 昼12時に会いましょう doesn't really matter. Whether
you can come at 12:03 PM depends on the situation.

If you absolutely need to indicate you need minute-level precision for some
reason, don't use 正午 or 12時 anyway. Say 12時[0]{れい}分[0]{れい}秒ぴったり, or whatever.

Saying 午前12時 is not recommended because it's really confusing. 午後0時 is safer:
[Do 午前 / 午後 change depending on
minutes](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33702/5010)

Strict "midnight" is 深夜0時 or 午前0時.
[真夜中【まよなか】](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%9C%9F%E5%A4%9C%E4%B8%AD) is a close word
which can sometimes mean strictly 0:00 AM, but I feel 真夜中 tends to be less
strict than "midnight" because it usually means "the middle of the night."

