Every 6 months is commonly referred to as “biannual” or “semiannual”. These terms are often used interchangeably, and they both mean occurring twice a year or every six months.
The prefix “bi-” means “two”, and “annual” means “occurring once a year”. Therefore, “biannual” literally means “occurring twice a year”. Similarly, “semi-” means “half”, so “semiannual” literally means “occurring every half of a year”, which is also every six months.
Biannual and semiannual can be used to describe events, reports, meetings, or any other occurrence that takes place twice a year or every six months. For example, a company may have biannual meetings to discuss its progress and goals, or a magazine may release a biannual issue that comes out twice a year.
It is important to note that biannual and semiannual are different from “biennial” and “semiennial”. “Biennial” means occurring every two years, while “semiennial” means occurring every half of a year, which is the same as “biannual” or “semiannual”.
In some contexts, biannual or semiannual may be specified as “biannual (every six months)” or “semiannual (twice a year)” to avoid confusion with biennial or semiennial.
In summary, every 6 months can be called either “biannual” or “semiannual”, both of which mean occurring twice a year. These terms can be used to describe events, reports, meetings, or any other occurrence that takes place every six months. It is important to differentiate between biannual/semiannual and biennial/semiennial, which have different meanings.
Some examples of semi-annual events include twice-yearly performance reviews at work, biannual meetings of organizations or groups, and semi-annual sales at retail stores. In finance and accounting, semi-annual reports are often prepared and presented every 6 months to summarize a company’s financial performance.