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What are the etymological origins of the commonly used English word 'fortnight'?

Question #152279. Asked by odo5435.
Last updated Nov 09 2025.
Originally posted Nov 09 2025 8:15 AM.

maripp2002
Answer has 7 votes
Currently Best Answer
maripp2002
15 year member
37 replies

Answer has 7 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
It's from Old English and is "short" for "fourteen nights" which when it came through to modern english came as fortnight. that makes sense as a fortnight is a period of 2 weeks.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortnight

Nov 09 2025, 9:54 AM
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