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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 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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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[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

You can bisect a circle to make two semicircles!

But if it's semicircular...

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 years 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.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

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

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

this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023

174 points (93.1% liked)

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