biennial

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.

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-ee-uhl)
adjective

1. Happening every two years.

2. Lasting two years.

3. Taking two years to complete its life cycle.
noun

1. An event occurring once in two years.

2. A plant that takes two years to complete its life cycle, such as beet and carrot.

[From biennium (a two-year period), from Latin bi- (two) + annus (year).]

Usage:

"Qatar is known nowadays chiefly as home of al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden's favourite television station. But next weekend the Gulf state will host hundreds of trade ministers and officials at the biennial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)." — A Deal at Doha?, The Economist (London), Nov 3, 2001.

Occurring every two years. Contrast with Biannual=occurring twice a year.

Occurring every 2 years.
Example: Abel arranges to pay premiums on a property insurance policy on a biennial basis. If the current premium is paid in 2004, the next premium is due in 2006.

For more information on biennial, visit Britannica.com.

A plant that requires two years to complete its life cycle. During the first growing season, the seed germinates and the plant grows but produces only foliage. During the second growing season, it flowers, sets seed, and dies. If allowed to reseed themselves, biennials can keep the garden in flowers indefinitely. Two popular biennials are foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and, despite its species name, money plant (Lunaria annua).

Tutor's tip: Did you mean "biannual" (twice a year) or "biennial" (every two years)?

Look up biennial in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Biennial refers to:

• an event that occurs every two years
• a biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year
• a biennale, an art exhibition held every two years

See also

• anniversary (for all other Latin-derived numerical names)
• triennial, an event that occurs every three years
• biannual, an event that occurs twice a year.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - toårig, toårs-
n. - biennal, toårsbegivenhed

Nederlands (Dutch)
tweejarig, twee jaar levende plant

Français (French)
adj. - biennal, bisannuel
n. - (Bot) plante bisannuelle

Deutsch (German)
adj. - zweijährig, zweijährlich
n. - (bot.) zweijährige Pflanze

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - που συμβαίνει κάθε δύο χρόνια, διετής, διάρκειας δύο ετών
n. - διετές φυτό, μπιενάλε

Italiano (Italian)
biennale, biennio

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - bienal
n. - planta (f) bienal (Bot.), o que ocorre a cada dois anos

Русский (Russian)
двулетний, двухлетник

Español (Spanish)
adj. - bienal
n. - cada dos años, planta bienal

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - tvåårig, inträffande vartannat år
n. - tvåårig växt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
二年生的, 二年一次的, 二年生植物, 二年一次的事

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 二年生的, 二年一次的
n. - 二年生植物, 二年一次的事

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 2년마다의(2년 동안 계속되는)
n. - 2년에 한 번 있는 일, 2년 생 식물

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 2年ごとの, 2年生の
n. - 2年生植物, 隔年の行事, ビエンナーレ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) يحدث كل سنتين (الاسم) زرع يعيش لسنتين‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮דו-שנתי, אורך שנתיים‬
n. - ‮אירוע דו-שנתי, צמח שמחזור הגידול שלו הוא שנתיים‬

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