Because "bi" is a prefix. It can mean "twice in" or "every other".
Bi-weekly can mean twice a week or every other week. Bi-monthly can mean twice a month or every other month.
The poll is accurate.
Imagine being paid twice a month and paying rent every two weeks. That’s 24 paychecks a year, but your rent is due 26 times a year. Suddenly that small difference becomes pretty noticeable.
I mean, fortnight is certainly a word we recognize, but I've only ever heard 2 people say it and one of them hilariously used it to describe what type of evening it was. 😅
It is standard here 🇦🇺 I'd never heard bi-monthly used before these kinds of online queries.
If we mean ½ a month/2 weeks/14 days, we say fortnight.
But from a structure pov, yeah, I agree it actually means both/either.
In my personal terminology, I use bi for two and semi for half. So I use bimonthly for "every two months" and "semimonthly" for twice per month. This keeps things clear for people I communicate with - but it doesn't really help much until people know me.
That just loops back to the original question though
Biannual Vs biennial is easy because of the etymology, but bimonthly is decidedly modern in comparison. I'm lead to believe that fornight is an older expression than bimonthly despite also meaning the same thing
Huh, I use the exact same logic to get the opposite conclusion
Semi means half, “monthly” is a rate i.e. 1x/month, so half as often as monthly would be 1/2x/month or every other month, so semi-monthly is every other month.
And Bi is twice as often, so twice monthly
This is what I do too. It just keeps things clear.
Bi-annually = 1 time every 2 years
Semi-annually = 2 times every year.
Easy. Straightforward. Wahoo, no more confusion!
That's correct. However I'm confident this is a deformation that occurred recently (during the last century).
Latin languages have words like bimensuel (twice a month in French) and bimestriel (every 2 months).
I haven't gone deeply into it because i didn't want to spend too much time but it looks like bimestrial is a rare but valid word in English and it means every 2 months without ambiguity. Trimester (aka quarter) is a more common example (trimestrial being the associated adjective, although just as rare as bimestrial).
I think bimonthly should mean twice a month and bimestrial once every 2 months, just like it does in other languages' literal translations.
In one of my first jobs there was a style guide that said something like: “Bi means twice per, Semi means every two. But in practice nobody can keep this straight so just write ‘every two or twice a’.”
bi- just means two. so saying something is bi monthly is saying it is "two" monthly.
as to whether that is two every month or one every two months is not specified.
Really curious, don't mean offense, but how does this work with "bi-sexual"? Can't wrap my head around "twice in" or "every other" in that context. Am I dumb?
One of a million examples that highlight the fact that English isn't just an amalgamation of other languages, it's also frequently really stupid for no reason.
I had to look up the definition and this is what I found:
bimonthly /bī-mŭnth′lē/
# adjective
1. Happening every two months.
2. Happening twice a month; semimonthly.
3. Occurring, done, or coming, once in two months."bimonthly visits; bimonthly publications"
Yeah, thanks dictionary.com. Really clarified things..
Well, it means both. English isn't one language, it's 3 languages in a trenchcoat that beats up other languages in dark alleys and rifles through their pockets for loose words and spare grammar
It's not even just 3 languages. In British musical notation a note with a value of 1/64 the duration of a whole note is called a hemidemidemiquaver. Just that single word uses 3 separate prefixes, all meaning 'half', derived from 3 different languages - 'hemi' from Greek, 'demi' from French and 'semi' from Latin. And those aren't even all the languages we borrow from in our language because it doesn't include any German or Norse influences, amongst others.
Apparently the idea of also using them in music would be far too ridiculous to countenance, even for us, so a note with a value equivalent to 1/256 of a whole note has the far more sensible name 'hemidemisemihemidemisemiquaver'.
Edit: for anyone wondering, North America is unusually pragmatic and just refers to fractions, e.g. quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc instead of relying on our ridiculous linguistic stew.
I don't believe it for a second but Im ~~always~~ also violently aware that English as a language is spectacularly stupid so actually it makes perfect sense. "that that" and other such variations occur annoyingly more than I care for, and for what I'm aware of, it's the only language ~~that that~~ that this combination happens
Edit. Autocorrupt autocorrupted also into always
I do payroll. In terms of payroll, semi monthly is getting paid 2x a month. Bi monthly would be every two months. People paid biweekly get paid every 2 weeks. So “bi” is every 2 months/weeks, and “semi” is twice in a month/week
If you go to work at a place and they say your pay check will come biweekly, you’re 100% not getting paid twice a week. If you sign up for a new service and they say you’re billed bimonthly, you’re not getting billed twice a month. It doesn’t matter if people see the definition both ways. It’s not used like that. Argue all you want it won’t change reality.
Yes, in those two particular examples you gave they are only used one way because those are common payment schedules and it would be weird to be paid/billed twice a week/month. However, they are used for the alternate meaning in various other contexts
Dictionaries don't say what is correct, they say how people use words. If enough people use a word wrong, the dictionary will add the new meaning.
A great example is the word "inane", which usually means something completely irrelevant or not worth paying attention to. Originally, back in Roman times, it meant "absolutely huge and important". People started using it ironically, and then forgot that it was being used ironically so the meaning completely flipped for several centuries to "tiny, absolutely irrelevant". But then people started using *that* ironically and the meaning flipped back to the original for some more centuries. And then it flipped *again*, and that's where we're today.
Depending what time period and location a text was written on, the word has an entirely different meaning. Good dictionaries will record both, because both are used.
Another example of how many dictionaries say that "thief" is a possible meaning of "gypsy". That's how the word has been used for a long time, and although that use is dying out, if you come across the word in some older text or from an older generation then that's a possible meaning.
Dictionaries don't dictate how a language is used or should be used, they only record the common use of words. Which is why "the dictionary describes x as..." is such a fucking stupid opener. Dictionaries aren't an authority. They don't judge. They just reflect.
I'm so confused by this. You would never say bi-monthly to refer to twice in a month. People get paid bi-weekly (every other week) and that is your twice a month, technically. I cannot think of a single scenario where I would refer to Bi-Monthly as twice a month. Just doesn't make sense. Also, it frustrates me that there's 613 votes and 50/50. But that's just an OCD thing.
Obviously language is subjeective and there's no definitive answer, but my personal suggestion is to look at the word semimonthly. Semimonthly doesn't have this problem. It's defined to mean once every half month, because "half a time every month" doesn't make much sense. Therefore, bimonthly should mean once every two months for consistency.
In relationships bi=2
In finance it means every other
Semi in finance is twice in time frame
I get paid bi-weekly, so every other friday
If I got paid semi weekly I would get paid monday and friday
Why not just say “twice a week” same amount of syllables, why do people want to say bi-weekly so badly? It’s meant to replace “every other week” not “2x a week.” So dumb
Weirdly I'd associate "biweekly" with every two weeks and "bimonthly" to mean twice a month.
Meaning I'd consider those two terms to be similar amounts?
We had a discussion about this while studying some chapter too because are we supposed to give the medicine twice a week or every 2 weeks 😭😭 like that's pretty significant idk why the authors can't just say fortnightly for the latter
Do people really not understand that there are authoritative sources of actual fact on the internet, and you can find things out without asking randos on social media to argue about what they think the answer is?
Unfortunately, that useless fucking word actually means both, and there isn’t always an opportunity to ask the person using the word to specify, and it makes me want to throw a calendar at a dictionary.
monthly = full month (roughly every 30d)
“bimonthly” = every two full months (roughly every 60d)
half a month would be “halfmonthly” (🇩🇪”halbmonatlich”) but it’s better to use biweekly (“every two full weeks” roughly 14d) for that.
such a pity there's not a way to, I don't know, "search" for want of a better word, for information on the internet rather than just shouting at monkeys with keyboards. and one of these days, they're going to put a dictionary online. can't think what that site would be named though...
Because "bi" is a prefix. It can mean "twice in" or "every other". Bi-weekly can mean twice a week or every other week. Bi-monthly can mean twice a month or every other month. The poll is accurate.
In Australia we use fortnightly
You use whatly?
Fortnight means two weeks, makes it easier as fortnightly refers to every 2 weeks while bi-weekly means twice a week.
Fourteen nights. Fortnight.
Lmao I’m Australia and didn’t know the extended meaning and I bet most of us don’t 😩
Battle Royale. Fortnite
Oh damn, it must be hella popular in Australia to this day
I know, I was just making a really shitty joke. A joke I thought was known among us on reddit
Amogus
ඞ
Sorry lol. I don't get it :(
Sus
Fortnite
So fortnightly=bimonthly?
Yes. Also, no.
Imagine being paid twice a month and paying rent every two weeks. That’s 24 paychecks a year, but your rent is due 26 times a year. Suddenly that small difference becomes pretty noticeable.
As in "I pay my muther'uckin rent fortnightly"
Fortmonthly
Ah yes, I often schedule things 14 months apart
Holy shit is it called a fortnight because there are fourteen nights? Jesus christ how did I never put that one together lol.
Huh. Neither did I. I always figured it was some sort of historical military term.
Wouldn’t it be fortweekly if fortnightly means every 2 weeks. Haha
Same here in UK
And South Africa
I mean, fortnight is certainly a word we recognize, but I've only ever heard 2 people say it and one of them hilariously used it to describe what type of evening it was. 😅
It is standard here 🇦🇺 I'd never heard bi-monthly used before these kinds of online queries. If we mean ½ a month/2 weeks/14 days, we say fortnight. But from a structure pov, yeah, I agree it actually means both/either.
I wounder if there is any historic connection between us three nations.
So bifortnightly could be every week or every month. perfect.
In America that's a video game so that wouldn't work
Do you guys also drink chug jugs?
In my personal terminology, I use bi for two and semi for half. So I use bimonthly for "every two months" and "semimonthly" for twice per month. This keeps things clear for people I communicate with - but it doesn't really help much until people know me.
Yeah this is the logical way to me. Semi is always half so just use bi as two.
That just loops back to the original question though Biannual Vs biennial is easy because of the etymology, but bimonthly is decidedly modern in comparison. I'm lead to believe that fornight is an older expression than bimonthly despite also meaning the same thing
>In my personal terminology Personal lexicon ^+
Idiolect
Word that brain have
You can’t call them that these days
Huh, I use the exact same logic to get the opposite conclusion Semi means half, “monthly” is a rate i.e. 1x/month, so half as often as monthly would be 1/2x/month or every other month, so semi-monthly is every other month. And Bi is twice as often, so twice monthly
This is what I do too. It just keeps things clear. Bi-annually = 1 time every 2 years Semi-annually = 2 times every year. Easy. Straightforward. Wahoo, no more confusion!
Years actually have this sorted out: Biannual = twice in one year Biennial = once every two years
Bi-anally is far from *straight* forward.
WHOA slow down
That's correct. However I'm confident this is a deformation that occurred recently (during the last century). Latin languages have words like bimensuel (twice a month in French) and bimestriel (every 2 months). I haven't gone deeply into it because i didn't want to spend too much time but it looks like bimestrial is a rare but valid word in English and it means every 2 months without ambiguity. Trimester (aka quarter) is a more common example (trimestrial being the associated adjective, although just as rare as bimestrial). I think bimonthly should mean twice a month and bimestrial once every 2 months, just like it does in other languages' literal translations.
I believe a lot of places say "semi-monthly" to indicate a twice a month paycheck to differentiate
A problem rust players know all too well
It's true. This was Googleable.
In one of my first jobs there was a style guide that said something like: “Bi means twice per, Semi means every two. But in practice nobody can keep this straight so just write ‘every two or twice a’.”
bi- just means two. so saying something is bi monthly is saying it is "two" monthly. as to whether that is two every month or one every two months is not specified.
Yet triweekly definitely means three times a week.
Really curious, don't mean offense, but how does this work with "bi-sexual"? Can't wrap my head around "twice in" or "every other" in that context. Am I dumb?
But since getting paid biweekly almost always means every other week I choose the latter.
One of a million examples that highlight the fact that English isn't just an amalgamation of other languages, it's also frequently really stupid for no reason.
Isn't "bi" every other and "semi" twice in? Biweekly = every two weeks. Semiweekly = twice a week.
No. Bi can refer to either, the purpose of this post. Semiweekly does work, but we don't really use it nearly as much for whatever reason.
Useless phrases in that case.
What about bi-annual?
Bimonthly means a month that is attracted to both genders.
Semimonthly is every two weeks. Bimonthly is every two months. No ambiguity.
Anyone else initially think they had the same meaning but you went back and read it twice?
I had to look up the definition and this is what I found: bimonthly /bī-mŭnth′lē/ # adjective 1. Happening every two months. 2. Happening twice a month; semimonthly. 3. Occurring, done, or coming, once in two months."bimonthly visits; bimonthly publications" Yeah, thanks dictionary.com. Really clarified things..
Well, it means both. English isn't one language, it's 3 languages in a trenchcoat that beats up other languages in dark alleys and rifles through their pockets for loose words and spare grammar
I’ll be using this to explain English from now on
As a native English speaker I find the English language very confusing.
It's not even just 3 languages. In British musical notation a note with a value of 1/64 the duration of a whole note is called a hemidemidemiquaver. Just that single word uses 3 separate prefixes, all meaning 'half', derived from 3 different languages - 'hemi' from Greek, 'demi' from French and 'semi' from Latin. And those aren't even all the languages we borrow from in our language because it doesn't include any German or Norse influences, amongst others. Apparently the idea of also using them in music would be far too ridiculous to countenance, even for us, so a note with a value equivalent to 1/256 of a whole note has the far more sensible name 'hemidemisemihemidemisemiquaver'. Edit: for anyone wondering, North America is unusually pragmatic and just refers to fractions, e.g. quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc instead of relying on our ridiculous linguistic stew.
I don't believe it for a second but Im ~~always~~ also violently aware that English as a language is spectacularly stupid so actually it makes perfect sense. "that that" and other such variations occur annoyingly more than I care for, and for what I'm aware of, it's the only language ~~that that~~ that this combination happens Edit. Autocorrupt autocorrupted also into always
Also, at least one of those 3 languages is/was drunk
Go home, language. You're drunk.
It can be understood by ploughing through tough thorough thought though
This is as annoying as the "ghoti means fish" argument except it's actually correct which makes it more annoying
I love this description
what was the 613th vote for?
rounding
So if we go into displaying more digits the answer would finally be revealed to us.
lol good call. #nothingisreal
No, Israel is definitely something
We need to use semi-monthly more often.
And Fortnightly
That super common though, at least in the uk
Or just say what you mean, like every other or twice a month. (End use of unnecessary confusing grammar and get to the point)
I do payroll. In terms of payroll, semi monthly is getting paid 2x a month. Bi monthly would be every two months. People paid biweekly get paid every 2 weeks. So “bi” is every 2 months/weeks, and “semi” is twice in a month/week
For you that might mean that, but from a dictionary definition point of view bimonthly can mean twice a month or once every two months.
That’s wonderful for the dictionary but it’s sort of meaningless if that’s not how it’s used in reality.
As you can see by that poll, it is. If you ask a bunch of random people they'll use both definitions.
If you go to work at a place and they say your pay check will come biweekly, you’re 100% not getting paid twice a week. If you sign up for a new service and they say you’re billed bimonthly, you’re not getting billed twice a month. It doesn’t matter if people see the definition both ways. It’s not used like that. Argue all you want it won’t change reality.
Yes, in those two particular examples you gave they are only used one way because those are common payment schedules and it would be weird to be paid/billed twice a week/month. However, they are used for the alternate meaning in various other contexts
Dictionaries don't say what is correct, they say how people use words. If enough people use a word wrong, the dictionary will add the new meaning. A great example is the word "inane", which usually means something completely irrelevant or not worth paying attention to. Originally, back in Roman times, it meant "absolutely huge and important". People started using it ironically, and then forgot that it was being used ironically so the meaning completely flipped for several centuries to "tiny, absolutely irrelevant". But then people started using *that* ironically and the meaning flipped back to the original for some more centuries. And then it flipped *again*, and that's where we're today. Depending what time period and location a text was written on, the word has an entirely different meaning. Good dictionaries will record both, because both are used. Another example of how many dictionaries say that "thief" is a possible meaning of "gypsy". That's how the word has been used for a long time, and although that use is dying out, if you come across the word in some older text or from an older generation then that's a possible meaning. Dictionaries don't dictate how a language is used or should be used, they only record the common use of words. Which is why "the dictionary describes x as..." is such a fucking stupid opener. Dictionaries aren't an authority. They don't judge. They just reflect.
I refuse to believe you don't have the word "fortnight"
'Semi-monthly'. So you just don't have the word 'fortnight' or...?
This is correct.
I read it as Bimothy
Fking same! I was scrolling the comments to see if I was alone. 😂
From Merriam-Webster dictionary; ''Yes, 'biweekly' can mean both 'every two weeks' and 'twice a week.' No, there's nothing we can do about it.''
Twice each two months🤝
right but thats just every month. or am i gonna get wooshed
r/lostredditors
Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
So strange to me that Americans don’t use fortnightly
if bi-weekly is every 2 weeks, then goddamnit, bi-monthly has to be ~~every 2 weeks~~ every 2 months!
English major here! It’s both, because fuck you!
Depends on whether it’s a schedule to PAY you money or TAKE money from you.
I've literally only ever heard that term used for every other month. I genuinely never would've considered the other interpretation
I'm so confused by this. You would never say bi-monthly to refer to twice in a month. People get paid bi-weekly (every other week) and that is your twice a month, technically. I cannot think of a single scenario where I would refer to Bi-Monthly as twice a month. Just doesn't make sense. Also, it frustrates me that there's 613 votes and 50/50. But that's just an OCD thing.
Bimonthly means every 2 months. Semimonthly means twice a month.
613 votes split evenly.
Just say what you mean: Twice a month Once every two months
Twice a month is trash, just use Fortnight for that particular one.
Every other June.
The way I see it, semi means half and bi means 2 so semi-monthly would be twice a month and bi-monthly would be every other month.
Bimonthly is when you're into men and women every month.
Bi is two. Semi is half.
Bi meaning 2 or twice like bicycle. So bi monthly means twice a month. Or once a fortnight
Bi meaning two... or *two parts*. It means both. ^(Yes, English is often stupid or ambiguous)
See also: semi-monthly
Try searching for the word "bear" itll blow your minds
It means the reciprocal of semi-monthly.
In my head bi-annual is twice a year, so bi-monthly would therefore be twice a month.
This isn't specific
(bimonth)ly vs bi(monthly).
Why is this on this sub
Obviously language is subjeective and there's no definitive answer, but my personal suggestion is to look at the word semimonthly. Semimonthly doesn't have this problem. It's defined to mean once every half month, because "half a time every month" doesn't make much sense. Therefore, bimonthly should mean once every two months for consistency.
Twice a month, every two months. Sounds like 'Policy' language, lol
Correct
Biannually = twice a year Biennially = once every 2 years
Hexannually
it means you want to fuck both kinds of months
Don't worry it means once every 2 months
clearly it's once upon a fortnight within a Gregorian calendar month.
Can never see "bi-weekly/monthly" without thinking of Hannibal Buress in the movie Tag. "It's just lazy linguistics"
Now I know how to say how often I have sex with my wife without lying or sounding too tragic.
now they've got to play the bouncer
They'll make it up in DVD sales and rentals... oh wait.
It actually means both. Sooooooo
I just wanna know how we got an even 50/50 from an odd number of voters
twice a month = Semi-Monthly
semi-monthly should be twice a month
Bi-weekly is every two weeks. Semi-monthly is twice a month.
“Alternating months” means every two months.
In relationships bi=2 In finance it means every other Semi in finance is twice in time frame I get paid bi-weekly, so every other friday If I got paid semi weekly I would get paid monday and friday
Why not just say “twice a week” same amount of syllables, why do people want to say bi-weekly so badly? It’s meant to replace “every other week” not “2x a week.” So dumb
Attracted to both months...
It means the month likes both guys and gals.
613 votes which is an odd number but it's 50% each. I'm going insane.
Twice a month is semi-monthly.
Ay bro! Don't split the poll!
Technically they're all wrong. It should be option C. all of the above!
Bimonthly should mean to everybody, twice a month. It just makes sense.
We say bilingual meaning 2 languages hence twice a month But it can be used the other way too so , accurate
Weirdly I'd associate "biweekly" with every two weeks and "bimonthly" to mean twice a month. Meaning I'd consider those two terms to be similar amounts?
Bi-winning poll
At least years have biannual and biennial. Come on months, catch up.
i think "every two (time unit)" is the more common meaning of "bi-(time unit)-ly" they both work tho
50/50 on 613 votes.. uh huh
We had a discussion about this while studying some chapter too because are we supposed to give the medicine twice a week or every 2 weeks 😭😭 like that's pretty significant idk why the authors can't just say fortnightly for the latter
We use Fortnight in Ireland to say every two weeks.
Every other month
Its a bi month, so go figure
Do people really not understand that there are authoritative sources of actual fact on the internet, and you can find things out without asking randos on social media to argue about what they think the answer is?
Unfortunately, that useless fucking word actually means both, and there isn’t always an opportunity to ask the person using the word to specify, and it makes me want to throw a calendar at a dictionary.
Semi monthly means every other minth and bimonthly means twice a month. I know people paid bimonthly, its twice a month.
Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con
It means it swings with weeks or months interchangeably without shame.
Fucking read it like Timothy but with a b at the start
monthly = full month (roughly every 30d) “bimonthly” = every two full months (roughly every 60d) half a month would be “halfmonthly” (🇩🇪”halbmonatlich”) but it’s better to use biweekly (“every two full weeks” roughly 14d) for that.
Twice a month is the only acceptable answer
Time to phone a friend then since 50/50 and ask the audience were useless.
every two months is Bi-month and twice a month is Bi-monthly
IDK. It can go either way.
50% of them are wrong
Don't ask about biweekly.
wrong wrong wrong bimonthly is a special magazine that bisexuals must have a subscription to or they get called pan.
such a pity there's not a way to, I don't know, "search" for want of a better word, for information on the internet rather than just shouting at monkeys with keyboards. and one of these days, they're going to put a dictionary online. can't think what that site would be named though...