fortnight

noun

fort·​night ˈfȯrt-ˌnīt How to pronounce fortnight (audio)
: a period of 14 days : two weeks
They stayed with us for a fortnight.

Examples of fortnight in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Once that competition has concluded with the final on July 14, however, the Olympics will be kicking off in Mbappe's hometown Paris less than a fortnight after. Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024 The House has gone on a two-week break; that fortnight might see changes on the frontlines that Ukraine would not have dreamed of just six months ago. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 19 Feb. 2024 The joyous ritual on Saturday served as the kickoff to a fortnight of Lunar New Year festivities that concludes with the annual Chinatown parade, a celebration of Chinese culture and community that has also become a symbol of unity for the city’s diverse population. Ella Polak, The Mercury News, 14 Feb. 2024 On the home front, things are equally unsettled: Our hero comes home one day to find his mother has inexplicably vacated the premises for a two-week motel stay, leaving behind a cryptic note and a fortnight’s worth of precooked dinners. Dennis Harvey, Variety, 25 Jan. 2024 Stillwell, whose charges include two counts of murder, was stabbed in Fulton County Jail on December 10, a fortnight after the trial got under way, and is expected to survive the attack. Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 2 Jan. 2024 This innocent question, posed by phone in the fortnight between my father’s death and his memorial service, was one more weight stacked on my heart. Michael O’Donnell, WSJ, 22 Dec. 2023 Alcaraz may have gone off the boil, but the man from the South Tyrol mountain range has scaled the heights in the last fortnight having never beaten Djokovic in their first three singles encounters. Tim Ellis, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023 The film fortnight then sprang to life again on Saturday evening when the 60th edition of the Golden Horse Film Awards represented a new climax. Patrick Frater, Variety, 25 Nov. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fortnight.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English fourtenight, alteration of fourtene night, from Old English fēowertȳne niht fourteen nights

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fortnight was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near fortnight

Cite this Entry

“Fortnight.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fortnight. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

fortnight

noun
fort·​night ˈfōrt-ˌnīt How to pronounce fortnight (audio)
ˈfȯrt-
: a period of 14 days : two weeks
fortnightly
-lē
adverb or adjective
Etymology

Old English fēowertȳne niht "fourteen nights"

More from Merriam-Webster on fortnight

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