The word “after next” has two main meanings. First, it has a temporal meaning, and second, it has a non-temporal meaning. The second meaning is ambiguous, and is also often confused with “next week.” A related word for this expression is the adjective “short”.
When speaking about dates, the word “after next” is used to refer to a day that is coming up in the next six to 13 days. Unlike English, the word “next” is not used for the day before or the day of. For instance, if someone has a date that is next week, they would say “this Thursday.” This would refer to the next day. For the same purpose, we would use “this past Thursday,” instead of “next Wednesday.”
When a time is far in the future, using “after next” is often ambiguous. While “a month ago” has a very clear meaning, “in two days” would mean “two days after that.” In contrast, “after next week” means “in the next four days,” and vice versa. Similarly, “a month from now” would be ambiguous. In English, it’s rare to use “a month from now” unless you’re referring to an event that happened a month ago.
