bi-, bin-, bino-, bis-

A period of two years.

1. A description of plant parts that are arranged in two rows, one on each side of an axis.
2. A reference to something that points in two ways, as leaves that grow only on opposite sides of a branch; in double vertical rows.
3. Pertaining to that which grows in a couple of ranks; such as, needle-type leaves growing in a pair of rows on opposite sides of a twig; distichous.

Bent at two places.

Bearing two flowers; two-flowered.

Producing two flowers or two-flowered.

1. Eye glasses with lenses that are divided into two parts with one section that corrects for distant vision and another that corrects for near vision, as an eyeglass lens; in other words: the upper half is for looking at things far away and the lower half is for reading or for looking at things that are near the viewer.
2. Embodying two distinct and often conflicting goals, interests, or courses of action: Bibocals are eyeglasses made with double lenses of different focuses so that the wearer may have one focus for distant vision and one of close focus for reading.

A lens used in cases of presbyopia, in which one portion is suited for distant vision, the other for reading and close work in general: The reading addition of a bifocal lens may be cemented to the lens, fused to the front surface, or ground into a one-piece form.

Other bifocal lenses are the flat-top Franklin type, or blended invisibly.

1. Having two functions; such as, bifunctional neurons.
2. In chemistry Having or involving two functional groups or binding sites; such as, bifunctional reagents.

1. To divide or to branch into two directions: Blood vessels and nerves are two examples of body parts that bifurcate.
2. To split or to separate into two parts or directions: As Jane was driving through the forest, the road she was driving on suddenly bifurcated and she noticed that if she were to go to the right, it would take her up the hill; however, if she were to turn to the left, she would be going down the hill

This particular illustration from Google images provides an example of bifurcating a symbol on a sign so it shows drivers on a highway that the road will be splitting into two directions.

1. Related to items that are divided into, or made up of, two sections: The people in the community were socially bifurcated populations.
2. A reference to something that is going into two branches or directions: Jan has some biforcated or Y-shaped styled flowers in her garden.

1. In biometric finger scanning, a point in a finger image at which two ridges meet: Bifurcations have the appearance of branch points between curved lines.

The number and locations of the bifurcations and ridge endings, known as minutiae, vary from finger to finger in any particular person, and from person to person for any particular finger; for example, the ring finger on the right hand.

When a set of finger images is obtained from someone, the number of minutiae is recorded for each finger. The precise locations of the minutiae are also recorded, in the form of numerical coordinates, for each finger.

The result is a function that can be entered and stored in a computer database which can rapidly compare this result with that of anyone else in the world whose finger image has been scanned.

2. An anatomical area of the body that has two branches or divisions that are forked: One example of such a bifurcation is when roots divide in a multi-rooted tooth.

Other body parts that are bifurcations include the trachea, or the windpipe, which divides into the two bronchi or branches of the trachea that go into each of the two lungs.