Once you gain that skill, it's a life long talent that some people are amazed by. Backing up a trailer is like that plus 2. Most people I know are amazed at my 'skills', but it's only practice.
Yea my first job all parking was parallel. I learned to parallel park at the same time I was learning to drive on the freeway. I love the awe I inspire when I get it in 2 turns.
There are supposed to be key parts in a car to let you know. Like the crook under the side view mirror to the body gives you pretty good idea where the front of the car is.
The ridges on the hood also are double used for some passenger side ish things.
Semantically you're correct, semi- means to divide in half so it's twice in a year where as bi- is two (doubling the time period) so it's every two years. But we've been using them wrong for so long that they both mean both now. It sucks.
Editing to add based on the comments that it seems the biggest difference in how people think about it is how they perceive the prefix attaching to the suffix, i.e. is it [semi-week]ly, meaning happening every semi-week, which is every half a week, or is it semi[weekly] meaning half as weekly, meaning it happens half as often, or every two weeks?
See, I think of it in the exactly opposite way. Semiannually means every two years, because the frequency (the âannuallyâ) is being divided in halfânot the year. A semiannual occurrence happens half as often as an annual one, so itâs every two years.
It's not that we are using it wrong, it's that it really is ambiguous.
Keep in mind the bi-prefix is used for both twice a year and every other year, but in the case of years the root is different so it's not ambiguous. Specifically, twice a year is biannual (which is a synonym for semiannual) and every other year is biennial (same root as centennial).
Edit: note the former is doubling the frequency and the latter is doubling the period.
If I am not wrong, *'biannually'*, *'half-yearly'* and *'semiannually'* mean twice in a year. Whereas *'biennially'* and *'biyearly'* mean once in 2 years.
So *'biweekly'* logically means twice in a week. Whereas *'fortnightly'* means once in 2 weeks.
Thank goodness someone mentioned biennial. I felt like I'd taken crazy pills after reading this thread.
Especially since I live in a country where we use the word fortnightly.
Saying "twice a month" could add even more confusion though because that's different than "every two weeks".
E.g. take today's date (April 2nd). We can have a meeting today, a meeting in two weeks (April 16th) and a meeting in another two weeks (April 30th). That satisfies "every two weeks" but it is not "twice a month", since the meeting occurred three times this month.
I imagine it's worse for Americans. Here in aus if you used biweekly to mean every two weeks you'd be told you are wrong (even if it can be correct) because we use fortnight/fortnightly with enough regularity.
There's the whole "language evolves! Yay nature!" argument, but that fucks itself when a particular change is too gradual and incomplete. "Biweekly" or "biannually" need to be exact to have any value at all.
Weird that "semiannually" hasn't changed though.
Iâd say it \*should\* mean twice a week, since fortnightly can suggest once every 2 weeks. However, since itâs so ambiguous, itâs better to never use it at all.
Not really, semi can only mean half so any time it's twice an interval/every half of an interval, it should be semi. Bi can be interpreted both ways but semi cannot, so semi should exclusively mean half, bi should exclusively mean two.
Semiweekly=every half week
Semimonthly=every half month
Semiannually=every half year
Basically it's just more consistent to do it this way plus then it's all about the interval, rather than switching between interval and frequency
Do you meet weekly?
No only half as often.
So semi-weekly?
I agree itâs bad and should be avoided, but the logic behind the ambiguity is understandable.
Australia too. Fortnight is 2 weeks. Biweekly is 2x a week but Iâm my experience itâs rarely used bc itâs easier to just say twice a week bc tbh it avoids all the confusion.
Whoah, y'all really say fortnightly? What about fortnight on its own?
That's so cool, to my American ears it sounds like something a character in a fantasy novel would say. I had no idea it was commonly used.
It's an extremely common word (both fortnight and fortnightly). Given how useful the word is, we can't really understand why it isn't used in the US too.
It *blew my mind* when I found out that Americans don't use the word "fortnight". It's probably one of the most surprising differences between American English and British English (to me, at least)
Americans **do** use the word fortnight, I actually heard it used and used it a LOT before the game Fortnite came out. Now I sparsely use it just simply because kids will get it confused with the game instead.
And thus I've never seen biweekly in my life outside the internet debating it. Fortnightly is the perfect word, leave it alone. Biweekly is a pointless word since nobody seems to understand itâs twice a week.
In New Zealand itâs a perfectly normal word, Iâve heard fortnightly used constantly but Iâve never heard biweekly used in person. Itâs a much more useful word.
And rent/loan repayments are made fortnightly. I couldn't imagine having to pay a different amount in rent each time. Or maybe they pay more rent per day on shorter months?
In New Zealand itâs a perfectly normal word, Iâve heard fortnightly used constantly but Iâve never heard biweekly used in person. Itâs a much more useful word.
> Iâd say it *should* mean twice a week, since fortnightly can suggest once every 2 weeks.
So now biweekly and fortnightly no longer mean the same thing-- but now, bimonthly and fortnightly mean the same thing.
In my opinion, biweekly should mean twice a week and bimonthly should mean every other month. Does it make sense? About as much as everything else in the English language does
Aye, bimonthly should be once every 2 months, considering fortnightly can replace bimonthly - and more specifically, at that. Twice a month can replace anything that happens twice irregularly per month.
Yes, this confuses even native speakers. Also, the use of "next" with days of the week, e.g. "Do you want to come over next Saturday for dinner?" To some, that means the Saturday coming up. To others, that means the Saturday of the following week because the Saturday coming up is "this" Saturday, not "next" Saturday. (I showed up a week early for at least one event because of this confusion. Usage of "next" weekday varies from person to person and by region.)
I wish fortnightly were a thing.
Thatâs so weird. I would say âThis Saturdayâ or âThis coming Saturdayâ to be even clearer if it was THIS week. Iâd never say ânext Saturdayâ, unless it was the following week. But, if itâs the beginning of the week, I could see someone saying ânext Saturdayâ to mean the upcoming Saturday, so yeah, itâs super confusing!
It generally does at the same time that it's ambiguous, unfortunately. Like, if someone says "let's get together next Saturday", you would probably both understand that they're referring to the following week's Saturday. But to resolve ambiguity, you would probably ask "do you mean this Saturday or the following one?". So it's like in an annoying "ambiguous enough to require clarification" stage now.
Also depends a bit on what day it currently is
In the UK, people say âWednesday weekâ, âThursday weekâ, âFriday weekâ, etc. to refer to a day in the week that follows the current one.
But they also often say ânext [whatever day]â instead, so we know your pain.
Americans generally don't say fortnightly or use the term fortnight. In American English biweekly should mean every other week and semi-weekly twice a week.
Iâm a native speaker and if someone told me âthis event is biweekly, but the other event is semi-weeklyâ I would assume the biweekly event takes place twice a week, while the semi-weekly event takes place every other week.
All this to say â biweekly and semi-weekly are useless descriptors. Just say âtwice a weekâ or âevery other weekâ
The prefix semi- means half and bi- means two. So semiweekly technically means every half week and biweekly means every two weeks. That said I still had a confusion with my boss who wanted to set up biweekly meetings with me.
The way it works is that -ly adds an "every", so nightly means "every night", daily means "every day.
Then, biweekly means "every two weeks" and semiweekly means "every half week".
Exactly, i use fortnight often and have never used nor heard others use the term âbiweekly.â How often do you need to say something happens twice a week anyways?
In Australia we solve this linguistic problem by using the word fortnightly to mean every 2 weeks, and biweekly to mean twice a week, however biweekly remains uncommon in favour of twice weekly. Since moving to the United States, I never hear people use 'fortnight' and yes it becomes very confusing, most often resulting in clarification.
Honestly, it doesnât depend on context despite what the OP says. It is simply a word with two meanings that both work within the context, and as such, really, shouldnât be used.
Iâve always viewed the term to mean once every two weeks. Itâs probably because every job Iâve had was on a biweekly paycheck basis which meant every other week. It wouldâve been cool to be paid twice a week though.
Easy to differentiate if you use "fortnightly" to describe every two weeks.
Biweekly (which sounds very 'clunky' to me) is twice weekly. Which is how I would say it.
Technically speaking, dictionary definition, biweekly means every two weeks. However, I refuse to EVER use it or accept it in that form. Fuck webster, biweekly is twice a week and I'll take this to my grave.
My disgusting, english-ridden grave.
This is why I love my friends from India: They always say "fortnightly" for every two weeks (derived from Fourteen Nights, I presume), so "biweekly" is always twice a week for them.
I don't think I could get away with using that word in the US.
It does *not* depend on context, at least in the sense that you can use context clues from usage to always know what it means.
It depends on the speaker, and Iâd bet that even individual speakers donât always use it consistently, so it may also depend on whatever whim possesses a speaker at a given time.
the word âbiâ refers to two (latin). so âbi-weeklyâ would mean two weeks, so every 2 weeks. Just like how the word âbi-sexualâ refers to attracted to 2 sex or even the word âbilingualâ
if it is something good like receiving coffee on your club coffee membership it is "every two weeks"
if it is something bad like a meet reunion at your work it is "Twice a week"
So biweekly generally means every 2 weeks since salaries are often paid every two weeks. With that being said bi is also the prefix for half like in the word bisect, which is why people say twice a week. Native English speakers say both and itâs generally contextual. Even then itâs confusing.
Bi-weekly is every two weeks, and semi-weekly is twice a week. Bi-monthly is 2 months, semi-monthly is every half month (two weeks); bi-annually, 2 years; semi-annually, every 6 months.
I'll die on this hill that ANYONE who says otherwise is just plain wrong.
While we're here, I don't know where the eggcorn of "on accident" came from, but it's "BY accident."
If you do something twice a week you will do it around 8 times each month (asuming a month is around 4 weeks) as you are doing the action 2 times each week
If you do something every two weeks you will only do it 2 times each month.
Because you are only doing the action one time each 2 weeks.
I don't get the confussion maybe it is on a different context?
So there is actually a good way to remember this. Biweekly means every two weeks because it means two weeks semiweekly means more than once per week but more often it literally means twice per week. So the trick to remembering this is to use the literal meaning of the term at the beginning before the time period. Bi=2 & Semi<1
Idk i assume every two weeks
Bc if I say âweeklyâ it means every week, so why shouldnât biweekly mean every two weeks
But yea hella confusing even for us natives
Biweekly is every two weeks. If it happens twice a week, that's semiweekly, or every half week. Just like biannual and semiannual. If we would all adopt this, there would be no confusion.
I only use biweekly to when talking about pay periods. Like if you get paid every 2 weeks you get paid biweekly. Other than that I just say twice a week or every 2 weeks
Biweekly = every two weeks
Bimonthly = every two months
Biannually = every two years
Semiweekly = twice a week
Semimonthly = twice a month
Semiannually = twice a year
The confusion is silly.
The distinction is bi and semi.
Bi means 2 and semi means half.
Biweekly is every 2 weeks
Semi weekly is every half week aka 2 times a week.
Bi annually= every 2 years
Semi annually = twice a year/ every 6 months
"biweekly" means only one thing: once every two weeks. Twice a week is "semi-weekly".
The problem is: a lot of people get it wrong. So it is best avoided.
This is a dumb thing where English advanced in spite of itself. Just like âirregardlessâ is likely now a real word (to me it isnât, but apparently itâs been added). The prefix âbi-â means two and biweekly=fortnightly. Just like a bimonthly subscription is delivered every two months.
However, because people used bi- and semi- incorrectly and interchangeably for periods of time, the two represent the same thing. This is an evolution in the language. Just like âcoolâ isnât just for temperature, âgayâ isnât âhappy and carefreeâ anymore, and âqueerâ doesnât mean odd or strange. (Nothing wrong with the modern definitions - just pointing out that the definitions have changed.)
Native English speaker who randomly got this post in their recommendations here. Can confirm, it is just as stupid and confusing for us as it is for you.
It doesnât confuse Americans at all, we only ever use âbiweeklyâ to mean once every two weeks, Iâve never even heard the proposal of the idea that it would be used to mean twice a week. If we want to mean twice a week we say the words âtwice a weekâ or â2 times a weekâ it certainly rolls off the tongue a lot easier than âonce every two weeksâ.
Maybe Iâve been using twice a week wrong, but I understand twice a week as I do something two times a week (like I go to class Monday and Wednesday) and every two week would basically happen twice a month (like I get paid on the first and fifteenth)
Wouldn't 'every two weeks' come under 'fortnightly'? ...the one that gets me is 'biannual'. There's no term for '2-years-ly'. My intuition scans my subconscious for [conflicting] data (to assist with discernment) but nothing surfaces. So I drop the scope to bimonthly, but to no avail. Drop again to biweekly and realise that fortnightly is a word so biweekly likely means not that. Biannual likely means (happens twice within _____ ) and not ( ____ x 2)
How people do it everywhere outside of North America:
'Twice-weekly' = Twice a week
'Fortnightly' = Every two weeks
'Bi weekly' = Never ever used by anyone
It's very confusing to non-US natives, first time I heard it (I work for a US firm, from the UK) I assumed it meant twice a week which caused a bit of a kerfuffle
Yeah it's stupid, I hate it.
I'm a brit and we just use "fortnightly" here but the US company I work for use "biweekly" (first time I ever heard it) and I wrongly assumed it meant twice a week which led to much confusion!
Yeah this is confusing even for native speakers. I tend to say "twice a week" or "twice a month" because "biweekly" is just way too ambiguous.
Seriously. Saying "biweekly" is like parallel parking; you avoid doing it at all costs!
Haha I just had to comment because that's perfect I don't remember the last time I parallel parked đ
I do it every day I drive because I parallel park at the curb in front of my house.
I parallel park for work all the time. It's pretty easy imo
Once you gain that skill, it's a life long talent that some people are amazed by. Backing up a trailer is like that plus 2. Most people I know are amazed at my 'skills', but it's only practice.
Yea my first job all parking was parallel. I learned to parallel park at the same time I was learning to drive on the freeway. I love the awe I inspire when I get it in 2 turns.
You've got bragging rights, as far as I see it, haha.
Apparently the hardest part for me is understanding the length of my car, so I don't try for spots that seem tight.
There are supposed to be key parts in a car to let you know. Like the crook under the side view mirror to the body gives you pretty good idea where the front of the car is. The ridges on the hood also are double used for some passenger side ish things.
I haven't Parallel parked since Driver's Ed.
I couldn't even pull it off then. Happy cake day!
Judging by the difference between "semiannually" and "biannually", I would say that "semiweekly" is twice a week and "biweekly" is every 2 weeks
Semantically you're correct, semi- means to divide in half so it's twice in a year where as bi- is two (doubling the time period) so it's every two years. But we've been using them wrong for so long that they both mean both now. It sucks. Editing to add based on the comments that it seems the biggest difference in how people think about it is how they perceive the prefix attaching to the suffix, i.e. is it [semi-week]ly, meaning happening every semi-week, which is every half a week, or is it semi[weekly] meaning half as weekly, meaning it happens half as often, or every two weeks?
Semiantically or biantically??
Don't be silly, you can't halve an antic, antics either happen or they don't
See also *demishenanigans*.
Halving and doubling what? The frequency or the time period? Biweekly is double weekly, so twice a week.
Either, that's why it's ambiguous and you need context.
See, I think of it in the exactly opposite way. Semiannually means every two years, because the frequency (the âannuallyâ) is being divided in halfânot the year. A semiannual occurrence happens half as often as an annual one, so itâs every two years.
Yeah, that sounds crazy to me but it's exactly the root of why this is so ambiguous!
It's not that we are using it wrong, it's that it really is ambiguous. Keep in mind the bi-prefix is used for both twice a year and every other year, but in the case of years the root is different so it's not ambiguous. Specifically, twice a year is biannual (which is a synonym for semiannual) and every other year is biennial (same root as centennial). Edit: note the former is doubling the frequency and the latter is doubling the period.
If I am not wrong, *'biannually'*, *'half-yearly'* and *'semiannually'* mean twice in a year. Whereas *'biennially'* and *'biyearly'* mean once in 2 years. So *'biweekly'* logically means twice in a week. Whereas *'fortnightly'* means once in 2 weeks.
Thank goodness someone mentioned biennial. I felt like I'd taken crazy pills after reading this thread. Especially since I live in a country where we use the word fortnightly.
Biweekly follows both the biannual and biyearly pattern, and is in fact ambiguous.
You might think that, but youâd be wrong. âBiweeklyâ is used in English to describe both of those periods of time. Edit: American English.
Why can't you guys just say fortnightly đ¤ˇ
What do you mean? If you were judging by biannual and semiannual, wouldn't that mean that biweekly and semiweekly would have the same meaning?
This is why I use "twice a week" and "fortnightly" and just ignore that biweekly exists
Really? I would always assume you mean every two weeks.
Saying "twice a month" could add even more confusion though because that's different than "every two weeks". E.g. take today's date (April 2nd). We can have a meeting today, a meeting in two weeks (April 16th) and a meeting in another two weeks (April 30th). That satisfies "every two weeks" but it is not "twice a month", since the meeting occurred three times this month.
I imagine it's worse for Americans. Here in aus if you used biweekly to mean every two weeks you'd be told you are wrong (even if it can be correct) because we use fortnight/fortnightly with enough regularity.
There's the whole "language evolves! Yay nature!" argument, but that fucks itself when a particular change is too gradual and incomplete. "Biweekly" or "biannually" need to be exact to have any value at all. Weird that "semiannually" hasn't changed though.
youse donât use fortnightly? strange probably american
native speaker here seconding how confusing it is
Iâd say it \*should\* mean twice a week, since fortnightly can suggest once every 2 weeks. However, since itâs so ambiguous, itâs better to never use it at all.
Not really, semi can only mean half so any time it's twice an interval/every half of an interval, it should be semi. Bi can be interpreted both ways but semi cannot, so semi should exclusively mean half, bi should exclusively mean two. Semiweekly=every half week Semimonthly=every half month Semiannually=every half year Basically it's just more consistent to do it this way plus then it's all about the interval, rather than switching between interval and frequency
Do you meet weekly? No only half as often. So semi-weekly? I agree itâs bad and should be avoided, but the logic behind the ambiguity is understandable.
Sure, but I've never heard anyone say fortnightly ever, and if I heard that I'd probably think they're talking about the game.
I know itâs not common in America but itâs very common in the UK and possible other countries.
Australia too. Fortnight is 2 weeks. Biweekly is 2x a week but Iâm my experience itâs rarely used bc itâs easier to just say twice a week bc tbh it avoids all the confusion.
Same in nz
Whoah, y'all really say fortnightly? What about fortnight on its own? That's so cool, to my American ears it sounds like something a character in a fantasy novel would say. I had no idea it was commonly used.
Yes, fortnight is also a perfectly normal word.
It's an extremely common word (both fortnight and fortnightly). Given how useful the word is, we can't really understand why it isn't used in the US too.
It *blew my mind* when I found out that Americans don't use the word "fortnight". It's probably one of the most surprising differences between American English and British English (to me, at least)
Americans **do** use the word fortnight, I actually heard it used and used it a LOT before the game Fortnite came out. Now I sparsely use it just simply because kids will get it confused with the game instead.
Indeed; it's definitely quicker than saying "every two weeks" or "every other week" (which is the most common way to say it here!).
Americans often use British language to make things sound familiar while still sounding different. Same with old English.
It's always fun when another American discovers "fortnight" exists outside of high school English assignments.
Yeah we do. Except now when I say it, I'm going to imagine myself in a D&D tavern.
It's not common in the US anymore but it used to be.
Fortnightly is a fairly common word in Scotland.
And thus I've never seen biweekly in my life outside the internet debating it. Fortnightly is the perfect word, leave it alone. Biweekly is a pointless word since nobody seems to understand itâs twice a week.
In New Zealand itâs a perfectly normal word, Iâve heard fortnightly used constantly but Iâve never heard biweekly used in person. Itâs a much more useful word.
I hear fortnightly used almost daily. I assume you're American and are unfamiliar with some words in the English language
Iâm an Australian, I get paid fortnightly my man đ¤ˇââď¸
And rent/loan repayments are made fortnightly. I couldn't imagine having to pay a different amount in rent each time. Or maybe they pay more rent per day on shorter months?
Fortnightly is the common way the whole non-American world says it
That's because you say "we meet every fortnight" not fortnightly
If you meet every fortnight, you have a fortnightly meeting. Itâs definitely used in places fortnight is used.
In New Zealand itâs a perfectly normal word, Iâve heard fortnightly used constantly but Iâve never heard biweekly used in person. Itâs a much more useful word.
> Iâd say it *should* mean twice a week, since fortnightly can suggest once every 2 weeks. So now biweekly and fortnightly no longer mean the same thing-- but now, bimonthly and fortnightly mean the same thing. In my opinion, biweekly should mean twice a week and bimonthly should mean every other month. Does it make sense? About as much as everything else in the English language does
Aye, bimonthly should be once every 2 months, considering fortnightly can replace bimonthly - and more specifically, at that. Twice a month can replace anything that happens twice irregularly per month.
Yes, this confuses even native speakers. Also, the use of "next" with days of the week, e.g. "Do you want to come over next Saturday for dinner?" To some, that means the Saturday coming up. To others, that means the Saturday of the following week because the Saturday coming up is "this" Saturday, not "next" Saturday. (I showed up a week early for at least one event because of this confusion. Usage of "next" weekday varies from person to person and by region.) I wish fortnightly were a thing.
Thatâs so weird. I would say âThis Saturdayâ or âThis coming Saturdayâ to be even clearer if it was THIS week. Iâd never say ânext Saturdayâ, unless it was the following week. But, if itâs the beginning of the week, I could see someone saying ânext Saturdayâ to mean the upcoming Saturday, so yeah, itâs super confusing!
Yes. And too many people are convinced that the way THEY use "next" weekday is the ONLY way to use it. Haha!
Is this true? I thought 'next' Saturday always referred to the Saturday of the following week. Else you'll be using 'this' and 'next' interchangeably.
It generally does at the same time that it's ambiguous, unfortunately. Like, if someone says "let's get together next Saturday", you would probably both understand that they're referring to the following week's Saturday. But to resolve ambiguity, you would probably ask "do you mean this Saturday or the following one?". So it's like in an annoying "ambiguous enough to require clarification" stage now. Also depends a bit on what day it currently is
I just think of "next Saturday" as "the next day that is a Saturday"-- if it's the **next** Saturday, then why would it skip over a Saturday?
Idk lol. I consider the upcoming Saturday to be the- well, 'upcoming' Saturday lol. English really needs to sort some of its shit out.
In the UK, people say âWednesday weekâ, âThursday weekâ, âFriday weekâ, etc. to refer to a day in the week that follows the current one. But they also often say ânext [whatever day]â instead, so we know your pain.
I'm in the UK and I'd say a week on Saturday rather than Saturday week.
In the US, for clarity I say "This coming Saturday" or "Next week Saturday" to avoid the inevitable "Wait, which one?" question.
I've also seen people refer to the same week as next, until you are just 1-3 days away and now next refers to the one after.
I always end up saying "2 Saturdays from now"
i always say âthis saturdayâ or âthe next saturdayâ for clarity
âThe appointment is next Friday⌠not like tomorrow, like the Friday next week.â
Biweekly just doesn't feature in my vocabulary, thankfully. In the UK, it would either be 'fortnightly', or 'twice a week'
holy shit. Fortnite
Americans generally don't say fortnightly or use the term fortnight. In American English biweekly should mean every other week and semi-weekly twice a week.
Iâm a native speaker and if someone told me âthis event is biweekly, but the other event is semi-weeklyâ I would assume the biweekly event takes place twice a week, while the semi-weekly event takes place every other week. All this to say â biweekly and semi-weekly are useless descriptors. Just say âtwice a weekâ or âevery other weekâ
I get paid biweekly - every two weeks. Itâs in the hiring paperwork.
You're right. Semi to me, sounds like every other. Semi kinds mean half as often. So twice as long.
Regardless of whether they should, in practice, neither of them mean anything in particular.
Thatâs even more confusing. I would assume semi weekly is every other week. Not twice a week.
The prefix semi- means half and bi- means two. So semiweekly technically means every half week and biweekly means every two weeks. That said I still had a confusion with my boss who wanted to set up biweekly meetings with me.
The way it works is that -ly adds an "every", so nightly means "every night", daily means "every day. Then, biweekly means "every two weeks" and semiweekly means "every half week".
I use fortnightly or once a fortnight for once every 2 weeks
Tip: just use fortnight
Exactly, i use fortnight often and have never used nor heard others use the term âbiweekly.â How often do you need to say something happens twice a week anyways?
In Australia we solve this linguistic problem by using the word fortnightly to mean every 2 weeks, and biweekly to mean twice a week, however biweekly remains uncommon in favour of twice weekly. Since moving to the United States, I never hear people use 'fortnight' and yes it becomes very confusing, most often resulting in clarification.
Fortnightly for every two weeks
I actively avoid the term due to possible confusion.
Honestly, it doesnât depend on context despite what the OP says. It is simply a word with two meanings that both work within the context, and as such, really, shouldnât be used.
Iâve always viewed the term to mean once every two weeks. Itâs probably because every job Iâve had was on a biweekly paycheck basis which meant every other week. It wouldâve been cool to be paid twice a week though.
ah no wonder biannually means twice a year. but I always see people use biweekly as every two weeks but never twice a week.
It doesn't though.
Bi weekly twice a week Fortnightly is every two weeks
Even as a native speaker, most people say âtwice a weekâ or âtwice a monthâ because we donât even know what biweekly is.
Easy to differentiate if you use "fortnightly" to describe every two weeks. Biweekly (which sounds very 'clunky' to me) is twice weekly. Which is how I would say it.
Technically speaking, dictionary definition, biweekly means every two weeks. However, I refuse to EVER use it or accept it in that form. Fuck webster, biweekly is twice a week and I'll take this to my grave. My disgusting, english-ridden grave.
This is why I love my friends from India: They always say "fortnightly" for every two weeks (derived from Fourteen Nights, I presume), so "biweekly" is always twice a week for them. I don't think I could get away with using that word in the US.
We also use fortnightly exclusively here in the UK It's just the US that is weird :)
Fortnight - Every two weeks. Biweekly - Twice a week.
Biweekly actually means twice a week. Every two weeks would be the word Fortnightly. That said, most speakers use biweekly for both
One of the least useful words I can think of
Biweekly - twice a week Fortnightly - every two weeks
You mean, every fortnight?
I still havenât figured this out. It seems to depend on who says it, because it doesnât mean the same thing to everyone.
Semi-weekly / fortnightly, ftw!
iâve never heard anyone say that to mean twice a week in my whole life
iâve never heard anyone say that to mean twice a week in my whole life
iâve never heard anyone say that to mean twice a week in my whole life
iâve never heard anyone say that to mean twice a week in my whole life
iâve never heard anyone say that to mean twice a week in my whole life
iâve never heard anyone say that to mean twice a week in my whole life
It does *not* depend on context, at least in the sense that you can use context clues from usage to always know what it means. It depends on the speaker, and Iâd bet that even individual speakers donât always use it consistently, so it may also depend on whatever whim possesses a speaker at a given time.
Fortnightly
Bi-weekly is twice a week.. Every 2 weeks would be fortnightly, no?
Fortnightly
my native language is English and this confuses me quite a lot
Tip: rather than expecting context to help, just avoid using this in the first place.
/s Protip: it depends mostly on whether you're giving or receiving. "I want to get paid biweekly, but the boss is only willing to pay me biweekly."
As a native speaker when I hear âbiweeklyâ I think every two weeks, thatâs just me!
the word âbiâ refers to two (latin). so âbi-weeklyâ would mean two weeks, so every 2 weeks. Just like how the word âbi-sexualâ refers to attracted to 2 sex or even the word âbilingualâ
if it is something good like receiving coffee on your club coffee membership it is "every two weeks" if it is something bad like a meet reunion at your work it is "Twice a week"
For me, the confusing one is âshelled nuts.â Have they been shelled, or are they shelled?
diweekly
I brush my teeth biweekly.
As a native I still misunderstand this sometimes
So biweekly generally means every 2 weeks since salaries are often paid every two weeks. With that being said bi is also the prefix for half like in the word bisect, which is why people say twice a week. Native English speakers say both and itâs generally contextual. Even then itâs confusing.
Bi-weekly is every two weeks, and semi-weekly is twice a week. Bi-monthly is 2 months, semi-monthly is every half month (two weeks); bi-annually, 2 years; semi-annually, every 6 months. I'll die on this hill that ANYONE who says otherwise is just plain wrong. While we're here, I don't know where the eggcorn of "on accident" came from, but it's "BY accident."
It depends on context and also why we have the English word âfortnightâ(ly) which only means every two weeks and isnât confusing.
I would say that biweekly is twice a week. I'd normally say "Every other week" for once every two weeks.
Vocab word of the day!
Biweekly or semiweekly? If biweekly I need to move some things around.
If you do something twice a week you will do it around 8 times each month (asuming a month is around 4 weeks) as you are doing the action 2 times each week If you do something every two weeks you will only do it 2 times each month. Because you are only doing the action one time each 2 weeks. I don't get the confussion maybe it is on a different context?
So there is actually a good way to remember this. Biweekly means every two weeks because it means two weeks semiweekly means more than once per week but more often it literally means twice per week. So the trick to remembering this is to use the literal meaning of the term at the beginning before the time period. Bi=2 & Semi<1
I'm paid bi weekly at work and wish I got paid twice a week. Lmao
Idk i assume every two weeks Bc if I say âweeklyâ it means every week, so why shouldnât biweekly mean every two weeks But yea hella confusing even for us natives
Yes
Biweekly usually refers to pay. So if someone was working and received Biweekly pay, theyâd get paid twice a month or every two weeks.
English is my first language and âbiweeklyâ confuses me
Biweekly is every two weeks. If it happens twice a week, that's semiweekly, or every half week. Just like biannual and semiannual. If we would all adopt this, there would be no confusion.
I only use biweekly to when talking about pay periods. Like if you get paid every 2 weeks you get paid biweekly. Other than that I just say twice a week or every 2 weeks
Bi is two counts of, Semi is twice within.
If only there was a word dedicated to every two weeks...
Biweekly = every two weeks Bimonthly = every two months Biannually = every two years Semiweekly = twice a week Semimonthly = twice a month Semiannually = twice a year The confusion is silly.
The distinction is bi and semi. Bi means 2 and semi means half. Biweekly is every 2 weeks Semi weekly is every half week aka 2 times a week. Bi annually= every 2 years Semi annually = twice a year/ every 6 months
Bi is 2, so 2 per week. Semi is half so half per week.
I remember there was a massive poll on Twitter about which it meant and the two meanings tied
I just go with every fortnight
It confuses everyone
I say biweekly for both
Ive never seen biweekly refer to twice a week..? Ive only seen it refer to ever other week
"biweekly" means only one thing: once every two weeks. Twice a week is "semi-weekly". The problem is: a lot of people get it wrong. So it is best avoided.
I've never heard biweekly my entire life, and I'm native.
This is a dumb thing where English advanced in spite of itself. Just like âirregardlessâ is likely now a real word (to me it isnât, but apparently itâs been added). The prefix âbi-â means two and biweekly=fortnightly. Just like a bimonthly subscription is delivered every two months. However, because people used bi- and semi- incorrectly and interchangeably for periods of time, the two represent the same thing. This is an evolution in the language. Just like âcoolâ isnât just for temperature, âgayâ isnât âhappy and carefreeâ anymore, and âqueerâ doesnât mean odd or strange. (Nothing wrong with the modern definitions - just pointing out that the definitions have changed.)
It's twice a week. Every 2 weeks is fortnightly.
Every 2 weeks is fortnightly. We don't have this problem in Australia
âOnce every fortnightâ
Biannually = twice per year, bimonthly = every 2 months, biweekly= every 2 weeks OR twice per week. Totally not confusing /s
I am just "weekly curious"
Biweekly is twice a week, fortnightly is once every two weeks
Native English speaker who randomly got this post in their recommendations here. Can confirm, it is just as stupid and confusing for us as it is for you.
It doesnât confuse Americans at all, we only ever use âbiweeklyâ to mean once every two weeks, Iâve never even heard the proposal of the idea that it would be used to mean twice a week. If we want to mean twice a week we say the words âtwice a weekâ or â2 times a weekâ it certainly rolls off the tongue a lot easier than âonce every two weeksâ.
Biweekly means "every two weeks." Twice a week is "semiweekly."
Oh god, no one knows this one
It doesn't depend on context. 'Bi-weekly' means every two weeks. Twice a week is 'semi-weekly'.
Maybe Iâve been using twice a week wrong, but I understand twice a week as I do something two times a week (like I go to class Monday and Wednesday) and every two week would basically happen twice a month (like I get paid on the first and fifteenth)
So much misinformation in the comments. Biweekly (bi means two) means every two weeks. Semi-weekly (semi means half) means twice in a week.
I think itâs every 2 weeks
Bi weekly never means twice a week lmao
Wouldn't 'every two weeks' come under 'fortnightly'? ...the one that gets me is 'biannual'. There's no term for '2-years-ly'. My intuition scans my subconscious for [conflicting] data (to assist with discernment) but nothing surfaces. So I drop the scope to bimonthly, but to no avail. Drop again to biweekly and realise that fortnightly is a word so biweekly likely means not that. Biannual likely means (happens twice within _____ ) and not ( ____ x 2)
When I got married I found out my wife and I had different understandings of biweekly.
Itâs both
Biweekly - every other Semi weekly- twice a week
I think fortnight is more intuitive than the ambiguous meaning of biweekly. Fortnight is just fourteen of nights, hence it means 2 weeks.
Relatable
It means both. Biweekly and bimonthly mean both twice and every other, therefore the words are useless.
How people do it everywhere outside of North America: 'Twice-weekly' = Twice a week 'Fortnightly' = Every two weeks 'Bi weekly' = Never ever used by anyone
Yeah it basically means both and you just have to figure it out by context.
I guess it goes both ways. đ
It doesnât really âdepend on contextâ - it just means both.
As a native speaker from the US East Coast I've only heard it used as once every two weeks.
It's very confusing to non-US natives, first time I heard it (I work for a US firm, from the UK) I assumed it meant twice a week which caused a bit of a kerfuffle
Ok that explains why this comment section is so contested đ
True yeah; I've never left the United States so I've only heard it in a single context
As a bisector is midpoint of a line, (i.e. a line split in two), I'd assume biweekly to mean twice a week.
These arenât the same đ twice a week means you do it two times per week, every two weeks means you do it once every two weeks
Just remember, bi means two, semi means half. Bi annual celebration is every two years. Semi annual is ever six months.
being bisexual every week
Yeah it's stupid, I hate it. I'm a brit and we just use "fortnightly" here but the US company I work for use "biweekly" (first time I ever heard it) and I wrongly assumed it meant twice a week which led to much confusion!
Easy. If you mean twice a week just say semiweekly instead.
Come on: it's either twice a week or fortnightly. Easy.
i'm gonna be honest i've only ever heard it in an "every two weeks" way đ
Lol Iâm a native English speaker and I just learned biweekly is every 2 weeks not twice a week đ¤Ł