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?
Because “weekly” is kind of a fraction (1/week), and 2/week and 1/(2week) are very different, but both can be pronounced very similarly. Read kind of like (2-week)ly and 2-(weekly). Which is why both meanings are used, so you need to use context to disambiguate, or just guess if context isn’t available.
This is also the reason why in this thread people say “semiweekly” is the other option, but they don’t all use the same other option. You have the same, but inverse problem there.
I was taught that the “bi” prefix was a multiplier and “semi” was a divider.
That meant biweekly, bimonthly, biannually were every 2 weeks, months, years and semi-weekly, semi-monthly, semi-annually were every half a week, half a month, and half a year.
Then the real world intruded and I’ve been confused ever since. About the only time I hear “semi” and “bi” used on a regular basis the way I expect is with pay periods. Biweekly is every two weeks and semi-monthly is twice a month.
Canada, by the way.
PS: I suppose bisexual and semi trailers also fit my expectations.
Does weekly mean the frequency or the interval length? Either way, the bi doubles it - to twice the frequency, or twice the pause in between events.
I think either interpretation is fair.
I’m wondering the same thing about Bible. Does it mean twice per Ble or every other Ble?
No. It means Ble likes both girls and boys.
https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/film-tv/canadian-author-hilariously-points-out-every-depiction-of-noahs-ark-shows-two-male-lions-299134/ … or it stands for the two lions who like each other very much.
