No One Has to Know

[Claw Snuff]

Err sure if you really want to. XD

[tommythejoat]

"Bi-weekly" is ambiguous. What do you mean exactly?

Bi-weekly is only ambiguous because the English language has gone missing.

Bi-weekly means every two weeks.

Semi-weekly means twice each week.

[NickyPhils]

Bi-weekly is only ambiguous because the English language has gone missing.

Bi-weekly means every two weeks.

Semi-weekly means twice each week.

Semiweekly does mean twice each week, but biweekly can have either meaning. It is ambiguous.

To avoid the ambiguity, it might be best to refrain from the word biweekly altogether. Use semiweekly to mean twice each week, and fortnightly to mean every two weeks.

[tommythejoat]

By "gone missing" I meant is inconsistent in its meaning.

I am searching for another bi that would be synonymous with semi. All the bi I can thing of mean two. I am sure there must be another 1/2 example, but I cannot think of one.

bi-cameral, bi-pedal, bi-lingual, bi-tonal, bi-partisan, ...

Perhaps you could share another example where bi is often or sometimes taken to mean one half.

[NickyPhils]

By "gone missing" I meant is inconsistent in its meaning.

I am searching for another bi that would be synonymous with semi. All the bi I can thing of mean two. I am sure there must be another 1/2 example, but I cannot think of one.

bi-cameral, bi-pedal, bi-lingual, bi-tonal, bi-partisan, ...

Perhaps you could share another example where bi is often or sometimes taken to mean one half.

Bimonthly would be another example, but that really doesn't help, does it?

I think the ambiguity is not whether bi- means two or half, but what part of the word bi- is being applied to. Biweek-ly means once every two weeks if we take the word to mean once every "biweek" (two weeks); here, bi- has been applied to week, and -ly has simply been added to that meaning. But if we start with weekly and then prefix bi-, then bi-weekly is twice weekly, or twice a week.

It all has to do with order of operations. The ambiguity comes from not knowing where the parentheses are.

[tommythejoat]

Your analysis presumes that there is no precedence in word formation. Since week starts out as a noun, the modification that leaves it a noun would be biweek. The modification that changes it to another part of speech would be the ly for biweekly.

I think biweek is pretty rarely used. The similar sounding bye week means the week that is skipped i.e. having no activity. That bye-week is only one week long.

[pegasus]

Nick's argument did not assume that there is no precedence in word formation, but rather that we do not know what the "order" of precedence was for the specific case "biweekly". The fact that - "week" was a noun before "weekly" was an adverb - does not necessarily mean that - "biweek" was a noun before "weekly" was an adverb. Additionally, as "bi" is not necessarily an adjective exclusively (it is a prefix), then it is not restricted to only modifying nouns, so either could have been first.

Either way, it doesn't matter which came first - or is the "true" construction - when the definition of a word forms. Language allows a person to express their own thoughts and another person to (attempt to) understand those thoughts. Since expression and understanding are both subjective, the entire system of language is subjective, and really there are no "rules", only guidelines.

A beauty of language in general is that meaning is inherently ambiguous - it requires both an expression and an understanding, neither of which may be the same.

[Claw Snuff]

I am sorry, but as the OP and a member of the staff on this website, I am going to have to tell you to stay on topic. >.>