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bi·en·ni·al

(bī-ĕnē-əl)

adj.

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

a. 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.

b. A perennial plant, such as the English daisy, cultivated as a biennial.

bi·enni·al·ly adv.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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