A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights).
Astronomy and tides
In astronomy, a lunar fortnight is half a lunar synodic month, which is equivalent to the mean period between a full moon and a new moon (and vice versa). This is equal to 14.77 days. It gives rise to a lunar fortnightly tidal constituent (see: Long-period tides).
Analogs and translations
In many languages, there is no single word for a two-week period, and the equivalent terms "two weeks", "14 days", or "15 days" (counting inclusively) have to be used.
- Celtic languages: in Welsh, the term pythefnos, meaning "15 nights", is used. This is in keeping with the Welsh term for a week, which is wythnos ("eight nights"). In Irish, the term is coicÃÂs.
- Similarly, in Greek, the term ôõúñÃÂõýøîüõÃÂÿ (dekapenthÃÂmero), meaning "15 days", is used.
- The Hindu calendar uses the Sanskrit word à ¤ªà ¤Âà ¥Âà ¤· "paká¹£a", meaning one half of a lunar month, which is between 14 and 15 solar days.
- In Romance languages there are the terms quincena (or quince dÃÂas) in Galician and Spanish, quinzena or quinze dies in Catalan and quinze dias or quinzena in Portuguese, quindicina in Italian, ' or ' in French, and chenzinÃÂ in Romanian, all meaning "a grouping of 15".
- Semitic languages have a "doubling suffix". When added at the end of the word for "week" it changes the meaning to "two weeks". In Hebrew, the single-word éÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂà(shvuâ²ayim) means exactly "two weeks". Also in Arabic, by adding the common dual suffix to the word for "week", ãóèÃÂù, the form ãóèÃÂùÃÂà(usbuâ²ayn), meaning "two weeks", is formed.
- Slavic languages: in Czech the terms ÃÂtrnáctidennàand dvoutýdennàhave the same meaning as "fortnight". In Ukrainian, the term ôòð ÃÂøöýàis used in relation to "biweekly, two weeks".
See also
References