# biennial

Pronunciation: say "by-EN-ee-ul" /baɪˈɛn.i.əl/

## Adjective

1. Occurring once every two years.
   - Simple: Happening one time every two years.
   - _The committee publishes a biennial report on the health of the river._
   - _Patients at low risk can usually move from yearly to biennial screening._
4. Lasting for a period of two years.
   - Simple: Going on for two years.
   - _Lawmakers approved a biennial budget that funds state agencies through the next two fiscal years._
   - _Foxgloves are biennial, so each plant lives only two growing seasons._

## Noun

2. An event that takes place once every two years.
   - Simple: An event that is held one time every two years.
   - _Her paintings were the talk of last year's biennial._
   - _The city now hosts two biennials, one for architecture and one for contemporary art._
3. A plant that takes two years to complete its life cycle, usually flowering, setting seed and dying in the second year.
   - Simple: A plant that lives for two years, growing in the first year and flowering in the second, then usually dying.
   - _Parsley is a biennial, though most cooks pull it up after the first season._
   - _Because biennials flower only once, gardeners sow them two years running to keep the border in color._

## Origin

Borrowed from Latin biennium ("two-year period"), from bis, bi- ("twice") + annus ("year"), with the adjective-forming suffix -al. It can also be read as bi- + -ennial.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/biennial (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).