Fortnightly means something that happens once every two weeks, or every fourteen days.

Quick Scoop: What does “fortnightly” mean?

  • Basic meaning: Occurring once every two weeks / every fourteen days.
  • Grammar roles:
    • Adjective: “a fortnightly meeting” = a meeting held every two weeks.
* Adverb: “We get paid fortnightly” = we get paid every two weeks.

* Noun: “a fortnightly” can mean a magazine or publication that comes out every two weeks.

A tiny bit of background

In British and some other varieties of English, “fortnightly” is common for schedules like pay cycles, meetings, or publications (e.g., “a fortnightly magazine”). It’s often preferred over “biweekly” because “biweekly” can confusingly mean either twice a week or once every two weeks, while “fortnightly” is unambiguous.

If you see “fortnightly” on a bill, schedule, or salary slip, you can read it as “every two weeks.”

TL;DR: “Fortnightly” = once every two weeks / every fourteen days, and it’s usually clearer than “biweekly.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.