EST

Definition	:	Eastern Standard Time
Category	:	Regional » Time Zones
Country/Region	:	Worldwide
Popularity	:
Type	:	Initialism

What does EST mean?

Eastern Standard Time (EST) is the time zone for the eastern part of the Americas including the United States, Canada, and parts of South America and the Caribbean. EST is five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−05:00). In other words, the EST zone has a UTC offset of minus 5 hours. Eastern Standard Time (EST) replaces Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) during summer when daylight savings comes into effect. Thus EST and EDT refer to time zones used in the same area but in different parts of the year.

Note:
In the United States and Canada, EST and EDT are generally called Eastern Time Zone or Eastern Time (ET).
In short, EST is 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−05:00) during the winter months and EDT is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-4:00) during the summer months.