Like biannual, semi-annual also means “happening twice each year.” However, semi-annual is slightly more specific than biannual. So, if you have a “semi-annual” event, it means there is a six-month gap between the two. Semiannual is simply a word that denotes an occurrence twice a year. For example, a company could have company parties semiannually, a couple could celebrate their marriage semiannually, and a family could go on vacation semiannually. I’m not sure what word came first, semiannual or biannual, but, in the modern day, most people use semiannual to avoid any confusion that arises from biannual vs. biennial.
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This is an important distinction to note when purchasing bonds. The word biennial is usually used to mean “occurring every two years,” but its similarity to biannual makes a misunderstanding possible. The main difference between something that happens biannually vs. semiannually is the time between the events during the year. An example of semiannual in finance would be a bond that pays the bondholder interest semiannually.
Company ABC has performed well in the last five years, continuously making a profit and growing earnings. The company decides it will start paying its shareholders dividends to distribute a portion of the earnings. ABC’s management decides it will distribute a dividend of $0.50 for every share.
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These words are so similar that it’s easy to confuse them in your writing. To avoid inadvertently misleading your readership, you should strive to write as clearly as possible. Biannual is an adjective that specifies the frequency of occurrence. Biennial is an adjective which means occurring every two years, or every other year. Also, a biennial plant is one that takes two years to grow from its planting to its death. Biennial comes from the Latin biennium, which means a two year period.
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It’s important to understand the differences to ensure you are understanding the financial impact of financial products, such as bonds and dividends. For example, a semiannual event could happen in January and July or June and December. In this example, if a bond pays semiannually, the bondholder would receive a payment in January or July, or June and December. There is no difference between semiannual and biannual; they are synonyms and mean the same.
Semi-annual and semiannual are exactly the same and can be written either without or without the hyphen. Semiannual is an adjective that describes something that is paid, reported, published, or otherwise takes place twice each year, typically once every six months. Semiannual is also an adjective, and it also describes something that happens twice a year. Sometimes, English has more than one word that refers to the same idea.
“Biannual” is an adjective used to describe events occurring twice a year. In order to fully understand this term, we need to know where it derives from. The prefix “bi-,” meaning twice, comes from Latin, while “annual” refers to one year. For example, if the bond paid the yield annually, the bondholder would receive $100 a year. Now, if the bond paid the yield semiannually, the bondholder would receive $200 a year.
What Is the Difference Between Semiannual and Biannual?
- Semiannual is generally used when an event happens twice a year and six months apart.
- However, there are some subtle differences between the context and implications of the words.
- Semiannual and Biannual are interchangeable, their definitions are the same.
- An example of semiannual in finance would be a bond that pays the bondholder interest semiannually.
- So a bondholder would receive the first interest payment in June, for example, and the second payment in December.
- Biannual, biennial, and semiannual are adjectives that describe the frequency at which events occur.
Semiannual is generally used when an event happens twice a year and six months apart. Both terms are often confused with “biennial,” which means an event occurring every two years. Semiannual is important to understand when purchasing bonds. A bond is usually described in the yield that it pays the bondholder. It is important to know if this 5% is paid annually or semiannually to understand the payment you would receive as the bondholder.
On the other hand, British English favors joining the prefix to another word using a hyphen. Since semi- means half or part, it will be easy to remember that you only need to wait part of a year before something semiannual happens again. Since the prefix semi- refers to half or part or something, you can use it to remind yourself that something that is semiannual only goes part of a year before happening again.
If a company’s fiscal year runs from January to December, the semiannual report would cover the company’s financials from January through June. This would provide investors with insight into how the company has performed in the first half of the year and provide an indicator of how it may perform for the remainder of the year. In this article, I will clarify biannual vs. semiannual; as part of the discussion, I will include several examples of each word in a sentence to demonstrate its use in context. So, to answer “semi-annual vs. bi-annual, which one to use,” You can effectively choose between the two words based on whether the timing of the occurrences is a relevant factor. You also should know that “bi-annual” can also mean something that happens every other year, whereas semi-annual only has one meaning. Use “semi-annual” if an event occurs precisely six months apart during the year.
Since biannual and biennial are the real problem, writer Bryan Garner (2016) recommends that you avoid them entirely, and use every other year instead. Semiannual means occurring twice a year, the adverb form is semiannually. Semiannual and Biannual are interchangeable, their definitions are the same. It also decides that the dividend will be distributed on a semiannual basis; the shareholders will receive one dividend payment of $0.50 twice a year for a total dividend amount of $1 for the year.
Many resources on grammar and writing concede that biannual vs semiannual these terms are so similar that you can use them interchangeably. However, there are some subtle differences between the context and implications of the words. The meanings of these words are so identical that many questions if there’s a difference between semi-annual vs. bi-annual.
A third adjective, biennial, describes something that occurs every other year. This term is often confused with biannual due to their similarity in spelling. I will also show you a memory tool that you can use next time you can’t remember whether you’re describing something that is biannual or semiannual. Learn English online and practice with an English tutor on LiveXP to figure out the difference and how to use these words. Semi is a prefix, and American English tends to use prefixes before the base word without a space or hyphen.
This means the bond would make an interest payment twice a year, usually six months apart. So a bondholder would receive the first interest payment in June, for example, and the second payment in December. To this end, best practice is to write around the confusion introduced by these terms. Use semiannual to refer to things which happen twice a year.