# semester

Pronunciation: US say "si-MES-tur" /sɪˈmɛstɚ/; UK say "si-MES-tuh" /sɪˈmɛstə/

## Noun

1. Either of the two terms that divide the year at a college or university, or in the US at a school, such as the fall or spring semester.
   - Simple: One of the two parts of the year at a college, or at a school in the US.
   - _Final exams for the fall semester begin in the second week of December._
   - _Many freshmen take a writing course in their first semester._

## Noun

2. A stretch of time lasting six months. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A length of time of six months, half of a year.

## Origin

Semester came into English from German Semester. The German word goes back to New Latin sēmestris (“lasting six months”), a compound of sex (“six”) and mēnsis (“month”).

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