What is a fortnight?
A fortnight is a period of two weeks, or 14 days. The word comes from the Old English feowertyne niht, meaning fourteen nights.
Fortnight is commonly used in British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand English, for example to describe holidays, pay periods or rent. In American English, the word is less common, and people usually say two weeks instead. A payment made every two weeks is called fortnightly in Britain and biweekly in the US.
The word reflects an old habit of counting time by nights rather than days. A similar old word, sennight, meant seven nights, or a week, but it has fallen out of use. Counting by nights may come from ancient Germanic peoples, who, according to Roman writers, measured time by nights.
Fortnight in pop culture
The word gained new attention with the video game Fortnite, released in 2017, whose name is a play on fortnight. In the game, players build forts and survive through the night, especially in its original Save the World mode.
Did You Know?
In the UK Parliament, some deadlines and procedures are still measured in fortnights.