Quinzena

Quinzena is a time unit used in Portuguese to denote a period of fifteen consecutive days. The term derives from quinze, meaning fifteen, with the feminine suffix -ena, and is closely related to the Spanish quincena, which has the same meaning. In practice, a quinzena can start on any chosen date and is often used to structure payroll, budgeting, planning, and scheduling.

In everyday use, quinzenas are commonly referred to in the context of the month being divided into two halves: the first quinzena covering roughly days 1 to 15 and the second covering days 16 to the end of the month. This division is particularly common in payroll systems, where employees might be paid on a biweekly basis or on two-week cycles within a calendar month. Beyond payroll, the concept also appears in discussions of project timelines, billing cycles, and budgeting periods.

While quinzena is predominantly used in Brazilian Portuguese, it is understood in other Portuguese-speaking regions and is cognate with the Spanish quincena. In Spanish-speaking contexts, quincena serves a similar function, often used to describe a two-week period for work, payments, or scheduling. The exact dates of a quinzena are flexible and defined by the specific administrative or contractual framework in use.