Halfyearly

Halfyearly is an adjective and adverb meaning occurring twice within a year or at six-month intervals. It is commonly used in finance, scheduling, and reporting to describe events or actions that take place every six months. In many contexts, halfyearly is synonymous with semiannual.

Usage and variation

The term often appears in phrases such as halfyearly report, halfyearly payments, or halfyearly reviews. Some writers prefer the hyphenated form half-yearly, while others use halfyearly or even half yearly. In some varieties of English, semiannual or biannual may be used interchangeably, but these terms can lead to ambiguity.

Clarifications

Halfyearly should not be confused with biennial, which means occurring every two years. The term biannual is especially prone to misinterpretation: it can be read as twice a year or every two years depending on the context. When precision is required, it is clearer to use twice a year or semiannual.

Examples

A company may issue halfyearly financial statements. An organization might schedule halfyearly performance reviews. Tax or regulatory deadlines can also be described as halfyearly when they recur every six months.

See also

Semiannual, biannual, biennial, quarterly.