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

submitted 11 months ago by LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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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?

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[–] Orygin@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, so the frequency being weekly: Half that frequency is every two weeks.

[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

We meet once a month (monthly)
We meet once a week (weekly)
We meet once a semiweek (semiweekly)
We meet once a day (daily)

See the pattern here? Half the interval, not half the frequency. I hope you were just being cheeky.

[–] Orygin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

I'm not being cheeky. That's how I perceive the thing, but I'm not a native English speaker and french has a way to distinguish between both cases without using semi(which is confusing too imo). Bimensuel => 2 times a month Bimestriel => every two months