2021-05-29 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – B – biannual & biennial


Revision B

2021-05-29

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – B – biannual & biennial

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Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง biannual = ‘bahy-AN-yoo-uhl’ 

ออกเสียง biennial =  ‘bahy-EN-ee-uhl’

Dictionary.com

VOCAB BUILDER

What does biannual mean?

Biannual can mean twothings:

occurring once every two years or

occurring twice per year.

Biannual is a synonym of biyearly,

which can also be used to mean everytwo years or twice per year.

(Biyearly can also mean “lasting fortwo years,” but this meaning is rarely used.)

The adverb form of biannual is biannually.

Examples:

  • The Olympic Games are biannual, meaning they happen every two years.
  • This is a biannual meeting—we have it in April and October.

Where does biannual come from?

The first records of biannual comefrom the 1870s.

Bi- is a prefix meaning “twice” or “two,”

and annual means “happening every year” or “once a year.”

People are often confused about

whether to use biannual or biyearly and for good reason:

both can mean“twice per year” or “every other year.”

The thing to remember is that oneisn’t more “correct” than the other.

However, biannual is more commonly used than biyearly.

There are several other similar time-related terms

that can make things even more confusing.

Semiannual and semiyearly

both meanoccurring twice a year or lasting for half a year.

Another word, biennial,

means happening every two years or lastingfor two years,

but this is used less commonly than biannual or biyearly.

Yes, you can sometimes figure out

what biannual means throughthe context of the sentence.

But not always.

When a coworker tells you a meeting is biannual,

it probablymeans it happens twice a year,

but it could alsomean it happens every two years.

(Hopefully it doesn’t mean that it lasts for two years.)

Here’s the best (and maybe only) way

to be perfectly clear:just say “twice a year” or “once every two years.”

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

What do bimonthly and biweekly mean?: Usage Guide

Many people are puzzled about bimonthly and biweekly,

which are often ambiguous because

they are formed from two different senses of bi-:

"occurring every two" and "occurring two times."

This ambiguity has been in existence for nearly a century and a half and cannot be eliminated by the dictionary.

The chief difficulty is that many users of these words

assume thatothers know exactly what they mean,

and they do not bother to make their context clear.

So, if you need bimonthly or biweekly,

you should leave some clues in your context to the sense of bi- you mean.

And if you need the meaning "twice a," you can substitute semi- for bi-.

Biannual and biennial are usually differentiated.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

biannual

Did You Know?

When we describe something as biannual,

we can mean either that it occurs twice a year

or that it occurs once every two years.

So how does someone know which particularmeaning we have in mind? Well, unless we provide them witha contextual clue, they don't.

Some people prefer to use semiannual

to refer to something that occurs twice a year,

reserving biannual for things that occur once every two years.

This practiceis hardly universal among English speakers, however, and biannual remains a potentially ambiguous word.

Fortunately,English also provides us with biennial,

a word that specifically refers tosomething that occurs every two years

or that lasts orcontinues for two years.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Biennial

Did You Know?

Biennial conventions, celebrations, competitions,

and sports events come every two years.

Biennials areplants that live two years,

bearing flowers and fruit only in the second year.

(Carrots and sugar beets are two examples;

since we're only interested in their roots,

we don't wait another year to see their flower and fruit.)

In contrast, semiannual means"twice a year".

But no one can agree

whether biweekly means "twice a week" or "every two weeks",

and whether bimonthly means "twice a month" or "every two months".

Maybe we should stop using both of them until we can decide.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Usage Notes

On 'Biweekly' and 'Bimonthly'

Sorry, not sorry

What to Know

Biweekly and bimonthly can mean the same thing

because of the prefix bi-,

which here can mean “occurring every two” or “occurring twice in.”

Therefore,

biweekly can be “twice in a week” or “every other week.”

Bimonthly can also mean "every other week"

if it's twice in a month, orit can mean “every other month.”

Look up the adjective biweekly in this dictionary

and you will see it defined as

"occurring every two weeks"

AND as "occurring twice a week."

Similarly, the adjective bimonthly isdefined as

"occurring every two months" AND as "occurring twice a month."

For this, we are sorry.

But we don't mean "sorry" in the sense that we feel penitence;

we are not to blame.

We mean "sorry" in the sense that we feel a kind of sorrow aroused

by circumstances beyond our control or power to repair.

For, as anyone who pays attention to our work surely recognizes,

we are at the mercy of the language.

We diligently record the English lexicon in both

its measured expansions and its wild proliferations,

and any insistence by us that it favor the former over the latter

is as whispers into a gale.

Biweekly and bimonthly each have a pair of meanings

that are unhelpfully at odds with one another.

Those meanings exist, and we cannot ignore them.

The problem lies in the prefix bi-:

it means (among other things) both "coming or occurring every two,"

AND "coming or occurring two times."

This too is a long-established fact that we cannot ignore.

English is sometimes simply obstreperous.

However intractable the English language may at times be,

it can be helpful to remember

just the many cases in which the language is not ambiguous,

in which its offerings include words that refer to precise gradations or fine distinctions.

One such case, sort of, is very similar to the cases at hand:

the language offers us biannual for"twice a year"

and biennial for"every two years."

This is useful and elegant, but, alas, also frequently botched, with biannual so frequently used to mean "every two years"

that we've had to enter that meaning in our dictionaries.

But here another solution is readily available:

skip biannual altogether and use in its place the common semiannual.

Ah, semi-! Just as a semicircle cuts a circle in half,

so too does the prefix semi- semanticallycut what it is affixed to in half:

semiweekly means unambiguously two times per week;

semimonthly means two times per month;

semiannual means two times per year.

It's an excellent option, and one that many writers seem to embrace;

we most often see bimonthly and biweekly

reserved for their "every two" meanings.

Another solution is to avoid the bi- compounds altogether

and come right out with it: "twice a week," "every other month."

As writer or speaker, you can choose to avoid ambiguity

by using a semi- compound

when you mean "two times per," or

by using a phrase instead of a single word.

In fact, so fraught is this territory that you'd do well

to make sure that your context explains just what you mean

when you use any of these bi- compounds:

"Employees are paid bimonthly, on the first and third Fridays of the month."

But what about when you're at the mercy of English as it's wielded by others?

Well, when you are a reader or listener,

we're afraid the best you can do is

to approach biweekly and bimonthly witha bit of side-eye

—and perhaps the kind of sorrow

aroused by circumstances beyond your control or power to repair.

Dictionary of Problem Words in English

biannual & biennial

A distinction exists between biannual and biennial

(twice a year,” “semiannual”)

and biennial (“once in two years” or “lasting two years”),

Fix in mind that bimonthly mean “every two months”

and that its use as “twice a month,” or “semimonthly,” is nonstandard.

Biweekly means “once in two weeks.”

If you remain in doubt, it’s always safe to say,

somewhat wordily, “twice a month” and “twice a week.”

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