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?

  • nybble41
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    11 months ago

    bi- means two, as in bicycle: two wheels (circles)

    semi- means half, as in semicircle: half of a circle

    The problem is that the prefixes can be parsed as affecting either duration/interval as in (bi-week)ly, every two weeks, or frequency as in bi-(weekly), two times weekly. The same applies to semi-.

    Personally I find the frequency interpretation a bit of a stretch—“two” is not the same as “two times” or “twice”—so I would tend to read e.g. bimonthly as every two months rather than twice each month.

      • nybble41
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        11 months ago

        bi-sect: cut into two parts; from Latin “bi-”, two, and “secare”, to cut.

        The “sect” part is critical. “bi-” on its own doesn’t imply division.

        • ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Heh, yeah, I’m just messing with people here 😆

          (This language confusion is mildly amusing, in the apparent inherent ambiguity we’ve created)

    • CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I prefer the opposite system. If someone said to me: we will meet two weekly, it seems closer to “twice weekly” than once every two weeks. Where as semi weekly saying “half weekly” makes it sound like one half of the weeks we meet and the other half we don’t. I have no idea how anyone thinks that meaning semi-weekly means twice weekly. Even the “we meet every half week” makes little sense to me syntax-wise.

      • nybble41
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        11 months ago

        If someone said to me: we will meet two weekly…

        You’re essentially assuming the conclusion by grouping it like that. There are three parts to “biweekly”, “bi-”, “week”, and “-ly”. “Once per biweek”, i.e. once per 14 days (or per fortnight), makes at least as much sense as “two” × “weekly”.

        I have no idea how anyone thinks that meaning semi-weekly means twice weekly.

        Meeting semiweekly (semiweek-ly, if you must hyphenate it) means meeting every semiweek, or every half-week (3.5 days). Which is an odd internal to meet at if taken literally but would result in meeting twice each week. “Semiannually” is a more common example, and I’ve never seen or heard it used to refer to anything but a 6-month (half-year) interval.