'evening' vs 'night'

[tulipflower]

How can we differentiate the words 'night' and 'evening' when telling the time. For example, is 8 p.m 'eight o'clock in the evening' or 'eight o'clock at night'?
Is there any rule for that?

 

[Amigos4]

You will find the answer to your question at the following link: Night vs. Evening

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It's not as black-and-white (or day-and-night) as the link implies.

Eight at night and eight in the evening are both correct and mean the same thing: 8 p.m.

I'd put it more generally: evening implies an earlier hour, night implies a later hour. Neither implies a specific range of hours.

There are several words that more exactly mean the time between sunset and dark, including dusk, twilight, and gloaming. (Gloaming is rare in the US.)

 

[Tarheel]

In the gloaming he went roaming?
;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In the gloaming he went roaming?
;-)

Yup!