Biweekly

Biweekly, sometimes referred to as fortnightly, is a reference to an event that occurs once every two weeks. A two week interval is equivalent to one fortnight. An example of a biweekly event would be the production of some magazines or the payday of some companies.

fort·night·ly [fawrt-nahyt-lee]adjective, adverb, noun, plural. –adjective 1.occurring or appearing once a fortnight. –adverb 2.once a fortnight. –noun 3.a periodical issued every two weeks.

There are fifty-two weeks in a year of twelve months, making for a possible 26 biweekly events in a year. This is a greater number than if such events were held twice a month, due to the fact that most months have more than four weeks (28 days). However, biweekly is often thought of incorrectly as twice a month. Twice a month is called "semimonthly," not biweekly.

According to Webster's dictionary, Biweekly can also be a reference to an event that occurs twice per week. Given the ambiguity and unscientific nature of this denotation, some authorities recommend avoiding the term where precision is required.

See also

Spelling biweekly with an embedded hyphen is incorrect. This error stems from a common misinterpretation of the syllable separator found in printed versions of the dictionary. The syllable separator is actually a dot, but is mistaken as a dash.

References and Notes

1. "biweekly". Online dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
2. "biweekly". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford. Retrieved 2008-02-19.