fortnight

American  

[fawrt-nahyt, -nit] / ˈfɔrtˌnaɪt, -nɪt /

noun

• fortnights
  plural

1. the space of fourteen nights and days; two weeks.

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fortnight British  

/ ˈfɔːtˌnaɪt /

noun

1. a period of 14 consecutive days; two weeks

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fortnights
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fortnight

First recorded before 1000; Middle English fourtenight, contraction of Old English fēowertēne niht; see fourteen, night

Explanation

A fortnight is fourteen nights, or two weeks. This word isn't used much in American English, but you'll come across it if you travel to England — or read a lot of old British novels. The word fortnight is still in use in Great Britain and some former British colonies. It comes from the Old English, and is literally a shortened form of fourteen nights. People sometimes use it when they're discussing their vacations or their pay schedules. In the United States, however, people typically just say "two weeks."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fortnight fortnights

A small team still goes out once a fortnight.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Over the following fortnight, the unrest escalates dramatically.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

To have one air traffic control failure in a fortnight may be regarded as a misfortune, to have two looks like carelessness.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Less than a fortnight after that, her Olympic journey was over.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

But there was still a fortnight to go before he went back to school.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

World number two Alexander Zverev finally landed his first major at this year's French Open, but revealed afterwards he "could not sleep" and was "not eating" during previous Slam fortnights because of nerves.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Shefte: Indeed, the first two fortnights are dark and full of terrors.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 27, 2023

WIMBLEDON, England — For all the days and fortnights and years of the early 2010s, the horizon didn’t seem to hold in store the kind of impressionist painting of the Thursday that Venus Williams just had.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 13, 2017

I’ll get used to it, probably in the next few fortnights or so.

From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2016

If they are fed alternate fortnights with a mixture of madder, and with their usual food alone, their bones will consist of concentric circles of white and red.

From The Botanic Garden. Part II. Containing the Loves of the Plants. a Poem. With Philosophical Notes. by Erasmus Darwin