postmidnight

• post-midnight

From post- + midnight.

postmidnight (not comparable)

1. After midnight, but before dawn.

   Synonyms: wee hour (attributive); see also Thesaurus:early morning

   Near-synonym: predawn

   • 2007 January 1, John F. Burns, “U.S. Questioned Iraq on the Rush to Hang Hussein”, in New York Times:

     Hussein's being taken to his execution from his cell in an American military detention center in the postmidnight chill of Saturday had a surreal and even cinematic quality.

• wee hours
• small hours
• wee small hours
• early hours