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biennial

 - 3 dictionary results

bi⋅en⋅ni⋅al

  [bahy-en-ee-uhl]
Use biennial in a Sentence
–adjective
1. happening every two years: biennial games.
2. lasting or enduring for two years: a biennial life cycle.
3. Botany. completing its normal term of life in two years, flowering and fruiting the second year, as beets or winter wheat.
–noun
4. any event occurring once in two years.
5. Botany. a biennial plant.
Also, biyearly (for defs. 1, 2).

Origin:
1615–25; bienni(um) + -al 1

Related forms:
bi⋅en⋅ni⋅al⋅ly, adverb

Usage note:
See bi- 1 .
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To biennial
bi·en·ni·al   (bī-ěn'ē-əl)   
adj.  

  1. Lasting or living for two years.

  2. Happening every second year.

  3. Botany Having a life cycle that normally takes two growing seasons to complete.

n.  

  1. An event that occurs every two years.

  2. Botany

    1. A plant that normally requires two seasons to complete its life cycle, growing usually as a rosette in the first season and producing flowers and fruits and then dying in the second season.

    2. A perennial plant, such as the English daisy, cultivated as a biennial.

bi·en'ni·al·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

biennial 
1621, from L. biennium "two-year period," from bi- + annus "year."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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