172

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?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] LillyPip@lemmy.ca -3 points 11 months ago

No it doesn’t. Lots of people misuse it that way, but:

Bi = x2 and semi = /2

So biweekly = every two weeks and semiannually means twice a year.

This is misused quite a lot, but the meanings aren’t the same, they’re opposites.

[-] Sway_Chameleon@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Not necessarily. The definition allows biweekly to mean both, because bi- simply refers to their being 2, so it is defined as being "twice per" or "every two". If it could only be used in the way you present then the word bifurcate would mean to replicate, as opposed to divide in two.

That being said, dictionaries will often note that semi- should be used to avoid confusion, and writing style guides, like Chicago, will state semi- needs to be used for instances where you mean twice a week.

[-] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 months ago

but weekly × 2 is every 3.5 days and weekly ÷ 2 is every two weeks

this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
172 points (92.6% liked)

No Stupid Questions

2174 readers
64 users here now

There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!

Don't be embarrassed of your curiosity; everyone has questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking certain people, so this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.


Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca still apply!


Thanks for reading all of this, even if you didn't read all of this, and your eye started somewhere else, have a watermelon slice 🍉.


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS