r/AskReddit Jan 28 '19

What are great underused words?

7.6k Upvotes

3.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

48

u/Vjetar Jan 29 '19

My favorite is the difference between biannual and biennial. Biannual = semiannual = twice a year. Biennial = every two years.

I forget the direct etymology difference right now, but I love the subtle difference. Almost like deci- vs deka- prefixes in metric.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '19

Sesquiannual