page_title: Clock
section_title: Word
hierarchical_section_title: Clock / Types / Time display methods / Word
caption_attribution_description: English: Comic style design of a desktop background word clock at http://www.TICKE-TACK.com.
context_page_description: A clock is a device used to measure, keep, and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units: the day, the lunar month, and the year. Devices operating on several physical processes have been used over the millennia.
  Some predecessors to the modern clock may be considered as "clocks" that are based on movement in nature: A sundial shows the time by displaying the position of a shadow on a flat surface. There is a range of duration timers, a well-known example being the hourglass. Water clocks, along with the sundials, are possibly the oldest time-measuring instruments. A major advance occurred with the invention of the verge escapement, which made possible the first mechanical clocks around 1300 in Europe, which kept time with oscillating timekeepers like balance wheels.
  Traditionally in horology, the term clock was used for a striking clock, while a clock that did not strike the hours audibly was called a timepiece. In general usage today, a "clock" refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time.
context_section_description: Word clocks are clocks that display the time visually using sentences. E.g.: "It's about three o'clock." These clocks can be implemented in hardware or software.
caption: Software word clock
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