Fortnight

{{short description|Time period of two weeks}} {{about|the unit of time measurement|the video game|Fortnite{{!}}''Fortnite''|other uses|Fortnight (disambiguation)}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} A '''fortnight''' is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term {{lang|ang|fēowertīene niht}}, meaning "{{Transliteration|ang|fourteen nights}}" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights).<ref>{{cite news|title=Fortnight|work=The Concise Oxford Dictionary|edition= 5th|date= 1964|page= 480}}</ref><ref>''Senight'', ''sennight'' or ''se'night'' (seven-night), an old word for the week, was still in use in the early 19th century, to judge from Jane Austen's letters.</ref>

==Astronomy and tides== {{further|Eclipse cycle}}  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.<ref name="totality">{{cite book |last=Littmann |first=Mark |author2=Fred Espenak |author3=Ken Willcox |title=Totality: Eclipses of the Sun |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-953209-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/SynodicMonth.html |title=Synodic Month definition |first=Eric W. |last=Weisstein}}</ref> 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").<ref>{{cite web |author1=BBC |title=BBC Wales - Catchphrase|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/catchphrase/ysbyty_brynaber/lessons/language/lang45.shtml|website=BBC Wales|access-date=18 November 2016|date=16 October 2014|quote=Wythnos is a week.}}</ref> In Irish, the term is ''coicís''. * Similarly, in Greek, the term δεκαπενθήμερο (''dekapenthímero''), meaning "15 days", is used. * The Hindu calendar uses the Sanskrit word पक्ष "pakṣa", 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 días'') in Galician and Spanish, ''quinzena'' or ''quinze dies'' in Catalan and ''quinze dias'' or ''quinzena'' in Portuguese, ''quindicina''{{Citation needed|date=January 2025|reason="Quindicina", in Italian language, actually means 15 days, not 14; it comes from the word for "15"}} in Italian, ''quinze jours'' or ''quinzaine'' in French, and ''chenzină'' 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 ''שבועיים'' (''shvu′ayim'') means exactly "two weeks". Also in Arabic, by adding the common dual suffix to the word for "week", ''أسبوع'', the form ''أسبوعين'' (''usbu′ayn''), meaning "two weeks", is formed. * Slavic languages: in Czech the terms ''čtrnáctidenní'' and ''dvoutýdenní'' have the same meaning as "fortnight".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/fortnight|title=Do You Know How to Say Fortnight in Different Languages?|website=www.indifferentlanguages.com}}</ref> In Ukrainian, the term ''два тижні'' is used in relation to "biweekly, two weeks".

==See also== {{Wiktionary|fortnight}} * FFF system * Half-month * Sennight * Ides (''idus''), Roman day for the midst of a month.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Units of time