fortnight
/ˈfɔɹt.naɪt/noun
fortnight is spelled F-O-R-T-N-I-G-H-T: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fortnight means “A period of 2 weeks” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fortnight is fortnights.
How many letters and syllables are in fortnight?
| Letters | 9: F-O-R-T-N-I-G-H-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is fortnight?
Fortnight appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce fortnight?
- UK /ˈfɔːt.naɪt/
- US /ˈfɔɹt.naɪt/
- /ˈfɔɹt.nɪt/
Fortnight has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fortnight.ogg, EN-AU_ck1_fortnight.ogg, En-au-fortnight.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fortnight
- fortnights plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fortnight mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
CommonwealthIrelandUKdatedA period of 2 weeks.
Holonyms: month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond < quettasecond
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fortnight in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense period of two weeks:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | quinze jours, deux semaines, quinzaine |
| German | vierzehn Tage, zwei Wochen |
| Portuguese | duas semanas, quatorze/catorze dias, quinzena |
| Spanish | quincena, catorcena |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does fortnight come from?
From Middle English fourtenyght, fourtene nyght, from Old English fēowertīene niht (literally “fourteen nights"; the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights), equivalent to fourteen + night. Compare sennight.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).