Exactly how often is that?
I was researching plants to put in my garden this spring and was surprised to discover how many common vegetables are biennials. They have a two-year growth cycle, producing flowers and seeds after overwintering. Carrots are in this group, as are kale, parsley, onions, broccoli, celery, and beets.聽
The definition of biennial is pretty clear. When applied to nonvegetation, it means 鈥渙ccurring every two years,鈥� like the art exhibition that takes place in Venice, Italy, the Biennale. Biannual, in contrast, means 鈥渢wice yearly鈥� 鈥� a biannual sale happens twice a year. 聽 聽
Other bi- words can be confusing. Paul Beatty鈥檚 novel 鈥淭he Sellout鈥� features a club that meets bimonthly. The meetings, Beatty describes, 鈥渃onsisted mostly of the members who showed up every other week arguing with the ones who came every other month about what exactly 鈥榖imonthly鈥� means.鈥� The truth is, bimonthly is ambiguous, with no 鈥渃orrect鈥� definition.
The same goes for biweekly. In American English, this generally indicates 鈥渆very two weeks,鈥� but in British English it more commonly refers to something that happens twice a week. If you say 鈥淭he paper comes out biweekly,鈥� it鈥檚 not clear whether it appears every Tuesday and Friday or every other Monday.
If you want to be more precise about timing, the Latin prefix semi- might serve. While bi- means 鈥渢wo,鈥� 鈥渢wice,鈥� or 鈥渄oubly,鈥� semi- indicates that a given unit of time is halved. So a semiannual sale happens once every half a year 鈥� just like a biannual one. A semimonthly publication comes out twice a month. 聽
British English has another useful term for 鈥渆very two weeks:鈥� fortnightly, a fortnight being 14 days. This sounds odd in American English and is becoming less common in Britain as well. Perhaps the least practical semi- word comes from the Victorian Era, when it was occasionally employed to refer to the timing of tides: semimenstrual, mensis being the Latin word for 鈥渕onth.鈥澛� 聽
Even if you decide to make a firm distinction between bi- and semi-, these words are used so interchangeably that it鈥檚 still confusing. If you really want to be clear, it is probably best to be less concise and simply say 鈥渙nce a week鈥� or 鈥渢wice a month.鈥�
I鈥檓 glad this column is听丑别产诲辞尘补诲补濒 (from the ancient Greek word for 鈥渟even鈥�) 鈥� once a week. It鈥檚 so much simpler.
