Why does bi-weekly mean "every two weeks?" This has always bothered me because intuitively it should mean "twice a week." - eviltoast

Similar case in point: “bimonthly” means “twice a month.” That makes sense.

But the definition for “bi-weekly” does not make sense.

What do you think?

  • Zane@aussie.zone
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    11 months ago

    The word for an occurrence of every two years or for a duration of two years is biennial. Plenty of events are biennial, such as festivals, exhibitions and conferences. The Olympics and Football World Cup are quadrennial.

      • jerkface@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        But if you took a moment to look it up, you’d see that it does have different meanings than “biennial”.

        • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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          11 months ago

          Good lord. I made a mistake. Fuck me.

          Biannual does indeed have potentially different meanings to biennial. In that you are correct.

          However, my point as I’m sure you are aware, is that the existence of the word “biennial” does not imply that “biannual” can not mean 2 years.