three

threes (plural)
thre (alternative)
þree (alternative)
threy (alternative)
thrie (alternative)

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English thre, threo, thrie, thri, from Old English þrī, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Doublet of tres and trey.
Cognate with German drei, Albanian tre, Armenian երեք (erekʻ), Latin trēs, Latvian trīs, Lithuanian trỹs, Greek τρεῖς (treîs), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.

shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations

It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Three Investigators Come across a Dark Soul”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:


trillion

→ Welsh: triliwn

Borrowed from French trillion, from French tri- (“three”) + -illion, equivalent to tri- + -illion.

biljoen

a million million, 1012 — see also billion

تِرِيلِْيُون

a million million million, 1018 — see also quintillion

Javik: Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. Their silence is your answer.

2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: From Ashes (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

Data published by the Treasury Department showed that “total public debt outstanding” rose to $34.001 trillion on December 29.

2024 January 3, Hanna Ziady and Tami Luhby, “US national debt hits record $34 trillion”, in CNN:

As President Donald Trump prepares to order the dismantling of the Department of Education, the financial arm of the agency – which makes loans directly to borrowers and manages trillions of dollars in student debt – faces an uncertain future, with steep staff cuts and lack of communication exacerbating the uncertainty, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former department employees.

2025 March 7, Kayla Tausche, “Dismantling of Education Department puts future of trillions of dollars in student loans in question”, in CNN:

(US, modern British, Australia, short scale) A million (times a) million: 1 followed by twelve zeros, 10¹².

(dated British, Australia, long scale) A million (times a) million (times a) million: 1 followed by eighteen zeros, 10¹⁸.


trillion

Coined by Harvey Pollack, because of the way the numbers read across a basketball box score.

(basketball, slang) A statistic formed by a player playing some number of minutes, but recording no stats.


third

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English thirde, thridde, from Old English þridda, from Proto-Germanic *þridjô, from Pre-Germanic *tretyós, a remodeling of Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós.

The third tree from the left is my favorite.

The second and third quarters of the shield are indecipherable on the stone but clearer in two other representations of the arms, a painted wooden funeral hatchment for Mary Davie[…]

2012 October 8, Daniel W. Patterson, The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 141:

“Congress took the lead on putting the HBCU funding in those bills and passing them. The third COVID-19 bill, passed under President Biden, included as much funding for HBCUs as both of the first two Covid-19 bills under President Trump,” he said.

2024 July 1, Chandelis Duster, “Biden and Trump touted what they’ve done for HBCUs at CNN’s debate. Here’s what their records show”, in CNN:

The ordinal form of the cardinal number three; Coming after the second.

derde

the ordinal form of the cardinal number three — see also 3rd

trois

in names of monarchs and popes; after the name; abbreviation III

𐰇𐰲𐰨

üčnč /üčünč/


thirteen

From Middle English thirttene, variant (through metathesis) of thrittene, from Old English þrēotīene, from Proto-Germanic *þritehun, compound of *þrīz (“three”) + *tehun (“teen”). Cognate with West Frisian trettjin, Dutch dertien, German dreizehn, Danish tretten. Equivalent to three + -teen.

There are thirteen cards of each of the four suits in a deck of playing cards.

During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant[…]

1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond:

In the spring of 1857, I, with several friends, left Hongkong for Shanghai, viâ Foochow, in the small coasting steamer Antelope. No noteworthy incident occurred until after leaving Foochow when, as we were enjoying our after dinner coffee and cigars, and by chance discussing the question of thirteen sitting down at table that had occurred at a dinner at which one of the party had shortly before been present, a violent thump and tremulous motion of the vessel announced the unpleasant fact that we had struck upon something. We rushed on deck and found the steamer hard and fast on a reef near Matsu Island. Fortunately the day was fine and there was no sea on.

1890 February 28, W. S. Wetmore, “RECOLLECTIONS OF LIFE IN CHINA IN THE FIFTIES.”, in North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette, volume XLIV, number 1178, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 256, column 1:

In the summer of 2014, at least thirteen BTGs and elements of five SPETSNAZ units were poised on the Ukrainian border.³⁶

2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 42:

The cardinal number occurring after twelve and before fourteen, represented in Roman numerals as XIII and in Arabic numerals as 13.

dertien

the cardinal number occurring after twelve and before fourteen


triangle

/ˈtɹaɪəŋɡəl/

/ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/

/ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English triangle, from Old French triangle, from Latin triangulum, noun use of adjective triangulus (“three-cornered, having three angles”), from trēs (“three”) + angulus (“corner, angle”), equivalent to tri- + angle.

The wedge-shaped character was the triangle, the archaic Paleolithic sign of the vulva; the pubic triangle was at the end of the phallic stylus.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 22:

(geometry) A polygon with three sides and three angles.

(systemics) The structure of systems composed with three interrelated objects.

I was flogged in 1840. To this day I feel a pain in the chest from the triangles.

1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861:

But nothing is said as to what we are to do with the negro when we have cut him off from absolute dominion; we are not informed if we may spread him on the triangles as aforetime;

1868, “The Week”, in The Nation, volume 6, number 149:

(historical, usually in the plural) A frame formed of three poles stuck in the ground and united at the top, to which people were bound for corporal punishment.

After turning on the triangle at Jeumont, we set off light engine back to Aulnoye.

1961 March, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 147:

(rail transport) A triangular formation of railway tracks, with a curve on at least one side.


thirty

From Middle English thirty, metathetic alternant of Middle English thriti, þrittiȝ, from Old English þrītiġ (“thirty”), from Proto-Germanic *þrīz tigiwiz (“thirty”, literally “three tens”), equivalent to three + -ty. Cognate with Scots therty, tretty (“thirty”), West Frisian tritich (“thirty”), Dutch dertig (“thirty”), German dreißig (“thirty”).

inh

threety (alternative)
thirtie (alternative)
XXX (alternative)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:thirty.

The cardinal number occurring after twenty-nine and before thirty-one, represented in Arabic numerals as 30.


TLA

en-noun

TLA (countable and uncountable, plural TLAs)

(US, humorous, countable) Initialism of 3-letter agency: the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.

(organic chemistry, uncountable) Initialism of trilaurylamine.


cubic

From Middle French cubique, equivalent to cube + -ic.

cubic cleavage

(crystallography) Having three equal axes and all angles 90°.

مُكَعَّب

having three equal axes and all angles 90°


cubic

cubics (plural)
cubick (alternative obsolete)


thrice

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English thrice, thries (“three times, thrice; a third time; repeated three times”), from earlier thrī, thrīe (“three times, thrice; a third time”) (from Old English þriwa, þreowa) + -es (suffix forming adverbs of time, place, and manner) (from Old English -es (suffix forming adverbs)). The word is cognate with Old Frisian thria ("thrice"; > Saterland Frisian träie (“thrice”)), Middle Low German drîes (“thrice”), Middle High German drīes, drīs (“thrice”).

gloss

"thrice"; > Saterland Frisian <i class="Latn mention" lang="stq">träie</i> (“thrice”)

Thrice ore the caddow I mine armes outſpred: / Thrice did I fall, before I once could riſe: / Leaning vpon mine elbow for a reſt, / Nodding, I knockt my chin againſt my breſt. // Then ſigh’d, ſlipt downe, and twixt the ſheete and pillow / I nuzled in, joyn’d knees and chin together: / I dream’d I wore a garland of greene willow. / But ſnuffling low, I prickt me with a fether; / So wakt, the bolſter for my backe I choſe, / And yawning thrice, I rub’d mine eyes and roſe.

1601, Io[hn] Weeuer [i.e., John Weever], The Mirror of Martyrs, or The Life and Death of that Thrice Valiant Captaine, and Most Godly Martyre Sir Iohn Old-castle Knight Lord Cobham, [London]: Printed by V[alentine] S[immes] for William Wood, →OCLC:

The weyward Siſters, hand in hand, / Poſters of the Sea and Land, / Thus doe goe, about, about, / Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, / And thrice againe, to make vp nine, / Peace, the Charme’s wound vp.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 132, column 1:

And the second time the cocke crew : and Peter called to minde the word that Jesus ſaid unto him, Before the cocke crow twiſe, thou ſhalt denie me thriſe. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:72:

How far might I have been on my way by this time! I am made to tread thoſe ſteps thrice over, which I needed not to have trod but once: Yea, now alſo I am like to be benighted, for the day is almoſt ſpent.

1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 47:

Once, twice, thrice, I met Young Lubin on the Green, / once, twice, thrice, Young Lubin he met me, / the firſt time I beheld the Lad he made a humble bow, / I bluſh'd and hung my ſilly head and felt I don't know how, […]

[1805?], [James] Hook, Once, Twice, Thrice, Sung with Great Applause by Mrs. Bland at Vauxhall Gardens, London: Printed for J. Dale, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, pages 4–5:

Roger Wildrake, also, who had twice or thrice put to his eyes what remained of a kerchief, interested by the lady's evident distress, though unable to comprehend the mysterious cause, hastened to assist the divine in supporting so fair a burthen.

1826, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 107:

And then he [Bedivere] threw the sword into the water as far as he might, and there came an arm and a hand above the water, and met it and caught it, and so shook it thrice and brandished. And then the hand vanished away with the sword in the water.

1918, Thomas Malory, “The Sword Excalibur”, in William Patten, compiler, Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry (The Junior Classics; IV), New York, N.Y.: P[eter] F[enelon] Collier & Son Corporation, →OCLC, page 29:

Seven hours after giving birth […] Kate [Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge] gave the world a first glimpse of their third child, a new Prince of Cambridge. […] Minutes after the brief photocall, the couple headed home with William [the Duke of Cambridge] emerging with his son in a car seat and holding Kate’s hand. “Thrice the worry now,” a smiling William said, holding up three fingers.

2018 April 24, Richard Palmer, “Royal baby: ‘Thrice the worry now!’: Prince William captures the reality of parenthood”, in The Sunday Express, London, archived from the original on 2018-06-15:

In his young Major League career, Paul Skenes has thrice pitched at least eight innings. In those three outings, he allowed a total of four runs and struck out at least eight batters all three times.

2025 June 4, Alex Stumpf, “'Win or Lose,' Skenes out to control what he can control”, in MLB:

(somewhat dated outside Asia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) Three times.


thirtieth

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-thirtieth.wav

From earlier thirteth, from Middle English thrittithe, threttiþe, thrittyde, from Old English þrītigoþa; equivalent to thirty + -eth. For the modern form, see the etymological notes at twentieth.

dertigste

the ordinal form of the number thirty — see also 30th


trial

From Latin tri- (stem of trēs (“three”)) + -al, on the pattern of dual.

Characterized by having three (usually equivalent) components.


tricycle

A cycle with three wheels, powered by pedals and usually intended for young children.


tern

PIE word
 *tréyes
The noun is derived from Late Middle English terne (“throw of a die or dice showing the number three”), from Old French terne (“gathering of three people; trinity”) (modern French terne), from Latin ternās, the accusative feminine plural of ternī (“three each; three at a time”), from ter (“thrice”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + -ī (from -us (suffix forming adjectives)).
The adjective is either derived from the noun, or directly from Latin ternī (“three each; three at a time”); see above.

der

tern flowers    tern leaves

a tern schooner, one with three masts

(chiefly botany, rare) Consisting of three components; ternate, threefold, triple.


trimester

PIE word
 *tréyes
From French trimestre, from Latin trimestris (“of three months”), from trēs (“three”) + mensis (“month”).

The school operates on a trimester schedule.

One of the terms of an academic year in those learning institutions that divide their teaching in three roughly equal terms, each about three months long. Compare semester.


trio

PIE word
 *tréyes
1715-25; borrowing from Italian trio.

I'm cooking crab cakes with arugula and mayonnaise, griddled lamb with rosemary potatoes and buttered spinach, then a trio of desserts.

2015, Kate Hardy, Bachelor at Her Bidding:

These are exciting times for England and particularly for this group. Six of this side won the Under-17s European Championship in 2014 and the attacking trio from Everton and Liverpool – Ademola Lookman, Dominic Solanke and Calvert-Lewin – had an excellent tournament.

2017 June 11, Ben Fisher, “England seal Under-20 World Cup glory as Dominic Calvert-Lewin strikes”, in the Guardian:

I love his music, but it is a bit disconcerting to realize that you could die in extreme old age and still only be familiar with a mere handful of the baryton trios.

2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 281:

(music) A piece of music written for three musicians.

trio

a piece of music written for three musicians

Any cocktail made with a spirit, a liqueur, and a creamy ingredient.


trilogy

/ˈtɹɪləd͡ʒi/

PIE word
 *tréyes
Learned borrowing from Latin trilogia, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek τριλογία (trilogía, “trilogy”). Morphologically, from tri- + -logy.

That such a safe adaptation could come of The Hunger Games speaks more to the trilogy’s commercial ascent than the book’s actual content, which is audacious and savvy in its dark calculations.

2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club:

Daisy Ridley has reawakened the debate over “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s” biggest reveal, saying that the character of Rey’s lineage wasn’t clear to her even partway through filming the final chapter of the trilogy.

2020 September 9, Brian Lowry, “Daisy Ridley reawakens the ‘Star Wars’ debate over Rey’s lineage”, in CNN:

A set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games.


three-point shot

en-noun

three-point shot (plural three-point shots)

(basketball) A shot attempted from beyond the three-point line.


tripod

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Latin tripūs, tripodis, from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous); equivalent to tri- + -pod. Doublet of tripus and teapoy.

Recent cell phones offer tripod attachments to take steady photographs.

(science fiction) A fictional three-legged Martian war machine from H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1897).


tripod

en-verb

tripod (third-person singular simple present tripods, present participle tripoding, simple past and past participle tripoded)

tripods (present singular third-person)
tripoding (participle present)
tripoded (participle past)
tripoded (past)

I tripodded after my 6-mile run.

(intransitive) To enter the tripod position showing signs of exhaustion or distress.

приня́ть по́зу трено́жника

(intransitive) to enter the tripod position showing signs of exhaustion or distress

(entomology, intransitive) Of a lizard, to raise its body upright bracing itself on hind legs and tail.


treble

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English treble, from Old French treble, from Latin triplus. Doublet of triple.

As for City, a domestic treble is off the cards and they must haul themselves off the floor quickly with the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie against Barcelona on Wednesday.

2014 March 9, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, in The Guardian:

(sports) Three goals, victories, awards etc. in a given match or season.

(soccer) A win in the top league, top national cup and top continental cup in the same season.


treble

treble (third-person singular simple present trebles, present participle trebling, simple past and past participle trebled)

trebles (present singular third-person)
trebling (participle present)
trebled (participle past)
trebled (past)

There is increasing evidence that cannabis use can act as a risk factor for the development of bipolar as well as psychotic disorders. A recent systematic review by Gibbs and colleagues identified several studies supporting a link between cannabis use and subsequent relapse of manic symptoms. This review also included a meta-analysis of two large prospective cohort studies, which found that cannabis use almost trebled the risk of new-onset subthreshold manic symptoms after adjusting for potential confounding factors.

2018 April 26, Tobias A Rowland, Steven Marwaha, “Epidemiology and risk factors for bipolar disorder”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, volume 8, number 9, →DOI, pages 251–269:

German climate minister says speed of carbon cuts needs to be trebled [title]

2022 January 11, Kate Connolly, “German climate minister says speed of carbon cuts needs to be trebled”, in The Guardian:

(transitive, dated) To multiply by three; to make into three parts, layers, or thrice the amount.


tri-

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin tri- (“three”) and Ancient Greek τρι- (tri-, “three”).


trigon

en-noun

trigon (countable and uncountable, plural trigons)

From Ancient Greek τρίγωνον (trígōnon, “triangle”), neuter substantive of τρίγωνος (trígōnos, “three-sided”), from τρεῖς (treîs, “three”) + γωνία (gōnía, “bend, angle”). Equivalent to tri- + -gon. Doublet of trigone and trigonon.

der

(countable, historical, music) An ancient triangular harp of Oriental origin which had four strings and was often used for banquet music. Also called sabbeka, sackbut, sambuca.

The Cancer trigon is composed of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces

(countable, astrology) A division consisting of three star signs.

(uncountable, historical) An old ball game played by three people standing in a triangular formation. See Wikipedia's entry for the game)


triliteral

From tri- (“three”) + Latin litera (“letter”) + -al.

A word root in an Afroasiatic language that consists of three letters.


triad

→ Ukrainian: тріа́да (triáda)

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin triad-, stem of trias (“three, triad”), from Ancient Greek τριάς (triás).
Sense 3 (“branch of a Chinese underground criminal society”) is due to the word being applied by the British authorities to underground society in Hong Kong based on the geometry of the Chinese character, derived from a name used by some of those societies, 三合會 /三合会 (sānhéhuì, “Three Harmonies Society”), referring to the union between heaven, earth, and humanity.

There are, says the Irish triad, 'three fewnesses that are better than plenty: a fewness of fine words; a fewness of cows on grass; a fewness of good friends around good ale'. As an Ulsterman I would agree.

2000, David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, page 625:

In his general deportment he was pompous and important, affecting a species of florid elocution, which often became ridiculous from his misarranging the triads and quaternions with which he loaded his sentences.

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter 13, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

(electronics) On a CRT display, a group of three neighbouring phosphor dots, coloured green, red, and blue.

(music) A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale OR any chord with three notes.


trinity

From trine + -ity, from Middle English trinite, from Anglo-Norman trinite and Old French ternite (modern French trinité), from Latin trīnitās, from trīni (“three each”), from trēs (“three”). Displaced native Old English þrines (literally “threeness”).

ncog

The state of being three; independence of three things; things divided into three.


triskelion

en-noun

triskelion (plural triskelions or triskelia)

Coined c. 1881, as a diminutive of triskeles, specifically in numismatics to refer to minuscule forms of the symbol found on ancient coins. No direct derivation from Katharevousa τρισκέλιον (triskélion, “three-legged stool; rule of three, analogy”).

Sicily and the Isle of Man use triskelia as their emblems.

A figure composed of three interlocked spirals (or three bent human legs), with threefold rotational symmetry.

三曲腳圖 /三曲脚图

figure composed of three interlocked spirals, or three bent human legs


trireme

From Latin trirēmis, from tri- + rēmus (“oar”).

(history, nautical, archaic) A galley with three banks of oars, one above the other, used mainly as a warship.


tierce

From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.

(card games) A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king and queen is called tierce-major.


triple

[ˈt̠͡ɹ̠̊ɪpl̩]

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English triple (also þripell), from Latin triplus. Doublet of treble.

the third payes for all: the triples sir , is a good tripping measure

c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:


triple

[ˈt̠͡ɹ̠̊ɪpl̩]

Three times or thrice the number, amount, size, etc.

तिगुना

Three times or triple the number, amount, size, etc


tripartite

Done by three parties (as an agreement).


dactyl

dactyls (plural)
dactyle (alternative)
dactile (alternative)

Learned borrowing from Latin dactylus, from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”), three bones of the finger corresponding to three syllables.

der

Now the Bard, glad to get an audience, […] / stuck fast with his first hexameter, / Not one of all whose gouty feet would stir. // But ere the spavin'd dactyls could be spurr'd / Into recitative, in great dismay / Both cherubim and seraphim were heard / To murmur loudly through their long array; […]

1822 October 15, Quevedo Redivivus [pseudonym; Lord Byron], “The Vision of Judgment”, in The Liberal. Verse and Prose from the South, 2nd edition, volume I, number I, London: […] John Hunt, […], published 1823, →OCLC, stanzas XC–XCI, page 33:

—My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls. But it has a Hellenic ring, hasn't it?

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 4:

A metrical foot of three syllables (— ⏑ ⏑), one long followed by two short, or one accented followed by two unaccented.


troika

From Russian тро́йка (trójka, “a group of three”).

A great writer of the last epoch, comparing Russia to a swift troika galloping to an unknown goal, exclaims 'Oh, troika, birdlike troika, who invented thee!' and adds, in proud ecstasy, that all the peoples of the world stand aside respectfully to make way for the recklessly galloping troika to pass.

1880, Constance Garnett, chapter VI, in The Brothers Karamazov, book XII, translation of original by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, page 787:

When Gogol wrote his great passage on the troika speeding across the steppes, he likened it to Russia itself, advancing across the earth.

1960, Lesley Blanch, The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, published 2006, →ISBN, page 145:

Travelling part of the way by rail and the remainder by troika, he reached Orenburg shortly before Christmas.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia, Oxford University Press, published 2001, →ISBN, page 367:

A Russian carriage drawn by a team of three horses abreast.

The investigator suspected the poor dead bastards were just a vodka troika that had cheerily frozen to death.

1981, Martin Cruz Smith, Gorky Park, Ballantine Books, published 2007, →ISBN, page 3:

The bare troika of Boolean operators brought them into metaphorical being.

1995, Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2, New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, →ISBN, page 71:

“He said, 'Let me get the best people.' And that's what he did. He got John Kalodner and Gary Gersh and Tom Zutaut, and they became stars in their own right.” Over the ensuing decade, that troika of talent-finders would bring a host of multiplatinum artists—from Cher and Aerosmith to Guns N' Roses and Nirvana—to Geffen.

2006, Barney Hoskyns, Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends, John Wiley & Sons, published 2006, →ISBN, page 265:

No longer is the best picture going to be a toss-up between that troika of national-historical heavies: Argo, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty.

2013 January 11, Tom Shone, “Oscar nominations pull a surprise by showing some taste — but will it last?”, in The Guardian:

A party or group of three, especially a ruling council of three people in Soviet or Russian contexts.


trimeter

trimeters (plural)
trimetre (alternative)

/ˈtɹaɪmɪtəɹ/

A line in a poem having three metrical feet.


triptych

triptychs (plural)
triptich (alternative)

From Ancient Greek τρίπτυχος (tríptukhos, “consisting of three layers, threefold”), from τρι- (tri-) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “a fold”).

uder

Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights
triptych

(by extension) A group of three people or works, especially when considered representative of a particular field or theme.

(philately) A set of three se-tenant postage stamps that form a composite picture.


love triangle

/ˈlʌv ˌtɹaɪ.æŋɡəl/

La Battaglia di Legnano is a patriotic melodrama with a love triangle theme included.

1961 December 12, The Times, p.5 col. F:

By placing Max and Onno in a love triangle with Ada, Mr. Mulisch achieves an emotional depth that recalls Francois Truffaut's classic film “Jules and Jim.”

1997 January 5, Jack Miles, “On a Mission From God”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A situation in which two suitors vie or compete for the love of the same person.

liefdesdriehoek

situation in which two people vie for the love of a third


three-dimensional

en-adj

three-dimensional (not generally comparable, comparative more three-dimensional, superlative most three-dimensional)

more three-dimensional (comparative)
most three-dimensional (superlative)
threedimensional (alternative)

(not comparable) Existing in three dimensions.

A good novel needs three-dimensional characters.


trilemma

The word is modelled on dilemma, with di- (“two, twice, double”) replaced by tri- (“three”).

It has been remarked as a characteristic of the late Sir Robert Peel, that in introducing his measures to the House of Commons, he often used the trilemma. "Three courses are before us—to go backward, to stand still, to go forward. We cannot go backward; we cannot stand still; we must, then, go forward."

1851, [James William Gilbart], Logic for the Million: A Familiar Exposition of the Art of Reasoning, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, →OCLC, part IV (The Points of Reasoning), section V (Reasoning by Compound Syllogism), subsection III (The Trilemma), page 324:

And in anticipation of it, while he [Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger] declares at one moment that it would be profane to limit Divine Providence to an alternative, he affirms in the next that there can be no harm whatever in shutting it up to a supposed exhaustive trilemma.

1862 July 1, “Art. VII.—(1.) Kirche und Kirchen, Papstthum und Kirchenstaat. Historisch-politische Bertrachtungen von Joh. Jos. Ign. v. Döllinger. Zweiter unveränderter Abdruck. München: 1861. (2.) The Church and the Churches; or, The Papacy and The Temporal Power. An Historical and Political Review. By Dr. Döllinger. Translated by William Bernard MacCabe. London: 1862.”, in The British Quarterly Review, volume XXXVI, number LXXI, London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder 18, St. Paul's Churchyard and Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers' Hall Court; Edinburgh: W. Oliphant & Co.; Glasgow: J[ames] MacLehose; Dublin: J. Robertson, →OCLC, page 156:

universe of discourse
universe of discourse

(logic) An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion.

trilema

(logic) argument containing three alternatives


tertiary

/ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/

/ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/

English numerals#Ordinal numbers
Peterhouse, Cambridge
University of Cambridge

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from the Latin tertiārius (“of the third part or rank”), from tertius (“third”) (from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós, whence English third) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French tertiaire.

bor

a tertiary alcohol, amine, or salt

If, on the other hand, we remember that a tertiary monoamine, such as must be formed by the final methylation of the ammonia fragment in aniline when submitted to the action of an alcohol chloride, is invariably converted into an ammonium compound it must appear rather strange that in the process above alluded to only tertiary, and never any quartery bases are observed.

1873 January 3, A[ugust] W[ilhelm von] Hofmann, “Synthesis of Aromatic Monoamines by Intramolecular Atomic Interchange”, in William Crookes, editor, The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science: A Journal of Practical Chemistry in All Its Applications to Pharmacy, Arts, and Manufactures, volume XXVII, number 684, London: Henry Gillman, Boy Court, Ludgate Hill, E.C., →OCLC, page 1, column 1:

(chemistry) Possessing some quality in the third degree; especially having been subjected to the substitution of three atoms or radicals.

secondary

The primary, secondary, and tertiary wing feathers (remiges) of adult mourning doves are shed and replaced yearly in an orderly sequence, so flight is possible during molt. […] Little is known about the shedding sequence of the secondary or tertiary feathers or the related coverts. If it is similar to that of passerines, however, loss of the outermost tertiary feather occurs coincident with loss of the fifth or sixth primary[…]. The molt then would continue sequentially until the last or innermost tertiary was shed and replaced.

1993, Ralph E. Mirarchi, “Growth, Maturation, and Molt”, in Thomas S. Baskett, Mark W. Sayre, Roy E. Tomlinson, Ralph E. Mirarchi, editors, Ecology and Management of the Mourning Dove (Wildlife Management Institute Book), Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 141:

(ornithology) Of quills: growing on the innermost joint of a bird's wing; tertial.


tertiary

English numerals#Ordinal numbers
Lay Carmelites
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Saint-Étienne Cathedral
University of Cambridge

/ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/

/ˈtɜː.ʃə.ɹiː/

The primary rhizomes usually die during the growing season. The tertiaries and secondaries, however, live through the winter and become primary rhizomes the following year.

1958 August, Ellis W. Hauser, H. Fred Arle, “Growth Habits”, in Johnson Grass as a Weed (Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1537), Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 4, column2:

The options available for distribution of water during times of reduced supply or demand are the following: […] (b) To reduce the rate of flow in the primary canal (still maintaining continuous flow in it) and to supply full flow in rotation to secondaries and their tertiaries; (c) to reduce the rate of flow in both primary and secondary canals, and to supply full flow in rotation to tertiaries; […]

1995 April, Donald [E.] Campbell, “Hydraulics of Canal Regulation and Types of Control Structures”, in Design and Operation of Smallholder Irrigation in South Asia (World Bank Technical Paper (Irrigation and Drainage Series); no. 256), Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 41:

There is no evidence that irrigators fail to keep their supply canals (tertiaries, watercourses, ditches) open when they need water.

1997 April, E[dward] B. Rice, “Influence of O&M Performance on Agro-economic Impacts”, in Paddy Irrigation and Water Management in Southeast Asia, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 49:

Any item considered to be of third order.

My principal objection is against the compound or derivative tints, given under the denominations of secondaries and tertiaries.

1817 August 16, Thomas Hargreaves, “XXI. On the Work Entitled ‘Chromatics;’ or, An Essay on the Analogy and Harmony of Colours. By Mr. T. Hargreaves.”, in Alexander Tilloch, editor, The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science, the Liberal and Fine Arts, Geology, Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce, volume 50, number 232, London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor, Shoe Lane […], →OCLC, page 128:

[Rudolf] Arnheim suggested that the capacity of activating tensions is to be found in the tertiary hues, which are unbalanced mixtures of primaries that are present in different quantities. This peculiar relationship between tertiaries must be distinguished from the interaction of complementary colors that occurs when primaries and secondaries are coupled.

1993, Augusto Garau, “Introduction: A Theory of Color Mixtures”, in Nicola Bruno, transl., Color Harmonies, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 3:

The feathers [of the least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)], black centrally, are margined with bright rufous, especially on the back, scapulars, and tertiaries, and with white tips on the latter; the stripes on the middle of the throat and chest are indistinct or almost absent, more evident on sides of breast.

1955, Thomas S. Roberts, “Key to Shore Birds”, in Manual for the Identification of the Birds of Minnesota and Neighboring States, rev. edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, published 1980, →OCLC, page 583:

Coincident with the dropping out of the fifth or sixth primary is the molt of the outermost tertiary, followed by the adjoining tertiary, and then the third tertiary, which in most passerine birds is the last or innermost.

1956, Olin Sewall Pettingill, [Jr.], A Laboratory and Field Manual of Ornithology, 3rd rev. edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: Burgess Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 142:

(ornithology) A tertiary feather; a tertial.

A gigaton-scale weapon would of necessity be a three-stage design (incorporating a fusion tertiary - likely with its own massive fission tamper - in addition to the fission primary and fission-jacketed fusion secondary), as a reasonably-sized primary would likely have difficulty imploding to ignition the enormous secondary that would be required to reach a one-gigaton yield with a two-stage thermonuclear.

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon

(military) A large stage in some extremely powerful thermonuclear weapons (resembling a greatly-enlarged secondary) which is compressed by the explosion of the secondary until ignition of nuclear fusion takes place, in much the same manner as the secondary is imploded by the primary, and which can allow for the attainment of yields of many tens or even hundreds of megatons, and likely even greater; not used in modern weapons due to a greater focus on the accurate use of sub-megaton weapons, the tremendous size of weapons incorporating a tertiary, and the lack of targets whose destruction would necessitate the use of a three-stage weapon.

Tertiaries living in places where there is no Church of the Order or of the Third Order can gain all the indulgences they would gain visiting such a church, by visiting their respective parish church, or, where there is no parochial church, by visiting another church or public oratory, and fulfilling the other conditions.

1952, Dominican Tertiaries’ Manual: For the Daily Use of Private and Fraternity Tertiaries of the Third Order of St. Dominic, 1st rev. edition, New York, N.Y.: Third Order of St. Dominic, published 1954, →OCLC, page 362:

Immediately after her arrival in Ferrara, while she was still striving to secure the foundation of her exemplary reformed community of Dominican tertiaries, [Lucia] Brocadelli also renewed her attempts to enhance [Girolamo] Savonarola's saintly reputation.

2008, Tamar Herzig, “The Power of Visions: Lucia Brocadelli and Osanna Andreasi”, in Savonarola’s Women: Visions and Reform in Renaissance Italy, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press; large print edition, Richmond, B.C.: ReadHowYouWant.com Ltd., 2010, page 146

(Roman Catholicism) A member of a Roman Catholic third order; a layperson who participates in activities similar to those engaged in by men and women who take religious vows (respectively the first and second orders), and who may wear some elements of an order's habit such as a scapular.

terziario

Roman Catholicism: member of a third order


tritium

en-noun

tritium (countable and uncountable, plural tritiums)

From trito- + -ium. From Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos, “third”).

(physics) A radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen (symbol T, ³H or ³₁H) having one proton and two neutrons.


hat trick

hat tricks (plural)
hattrick (alternative)
hat-trick (alternative)

From hat + trick (“element of a magician’s or variety entertainer’s act; entertaining and difficult physical action”, noun). Sense 2 (“achievement of a bowler taking three wickets in three consecutive balls”)—the original sporting sense—refers to the commemorative hat formerly given as a prize to the bowler by his club.

driekuns

three achievements in a single game, competition, season, etc.

שלושער m (shloshá'ar, literally “three-gate or goal”)

གསུམ་སྦྲགས (gsum sbrags, literally “pack-of-three”)

The car salesman came home with front-row seats to the weekend game after achieving a hat trick by selling three cars that day.

And with the debut of his new series Hyperion Bay in 1998, [Joseph] Dougherty accomplished the rare "hat trick" in television: the pilot was written, executive-produced, and codirected by Dougherty.

2002, Douglas Heil, “From Office Temp to ‘Hat Trick’ Showrunner: Interview with Joseph Dougherty”, in Prime Time Authorship: Works about and by Three TV Dramatists (The Television Series), Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 129:

Three murders in less than two weeks. That's a hat trick.

2015, Les Roberts, “Milan”, in The Ashtabula Hat Trick (A Milan Jacovich/Kevin O’Bannion Mystery), Cleveland, Oh.: Gray & Company, →ISBN, page 51:

In these modern cities, anti-infection measures had to be imposed from the top down, by a central authority. To pull this off, the authority required three things: the ability to identify cases in a timely fashion, and so determine the infection's direction of travel; an understanding of how the disease spread (by water? air? insect vector?), and hence the measures that were likely to block it; and some means of ensuring compliance with those measures. When all three of these ingredients – which we'll describe in more detail in the following sections – were in place, containment could be extremely effective, but a hat-trick was rare.

2017 May, Laura Spinney, “Chalking Doors with Crosses”, in Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: PublicAffairs, published September 2017, →ISBN, part 4 (The Survival Instinct), page 91:

Keir Starmer has heralded a “hat-trick of deals” with India, the US and the EU, telling MPs they will protect thousands of jobs and save businesses hundreds of millions of pounds.

2025 May 20, Kiran Stacey, “Keir Starmer says ‘hat-trick of deals’ shows Britain is back on world stage”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(cricket) An achievement of a bowler taking three wickets in three consecutive balls.

(by extension, generally) Three achievements or incidents that occur together, usually within a certain period of time.

hattutemppu

three achievements or incidents that occur together, usually within a certain period of time


trigamy

en-noun

trigamy (countable and uncountable, plural trigamies)

From Ancient Greek τρίγαμος (trígamos), from τρία (tría, “three”) + γάμος (gámos, “marriage”). By surface analysis, tri- + -gamy.

The state of having three (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously.

trigàmia

the state of having three spouses simultaneously


three sheets to the wind

en-adj

three sheets to the wind (not comparable)

This phrase is derived in reference to sailing and sailing ships, and implies an individual "[u]nsteady from drink" (Smyth & Belcher, 1867; Martin, 2023). The "sheet" referred to is the nautical term for a rope (line) that controls the trim of a sail. The phrase was originally "three sheets in the wind", but also appears in its early examples with the number references "two" and "one", and is thought to derive from the fact that when "sheets [of a sailing vessel] are loose and blowing about in the wind[,] then the sails will flap" such that the boat lurches about "like a drunken sailor" (Martin, 2023). As of the last editing of Gary Martin's entry for the idiom, the phrase was most often presented as it is in the title (i.e., "...to [rather than 'in'] the wind"; Martin, 2023). The attribution of the expression's origin to the form with the preposition "in" is supported by a case of the phrase in print of the "two sheets" variation, in The Journal of Rev. Francis Asbury (1815, entry for 26 September 1813), which recounts the author's travels in the South, in the United States: "The tavernkeepers were kind and polite... [but] sometimes two sheets in the wind." (Martin, 2023). The "three sheets" variation is found in Pierce Egan's Real Life in London (1821), which says "Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind." (Martin, 2023). About the variations of the number appearing, Martin states,Sailors at that time had a sliding scale of drunkenness; three sheets was the falling over stage; tipsy was just 'one sheet in the wind', or 'a sheet in the wind's eye' (Martin, 2023). A further example is Catherine Ward's "The Fisher's Daughter" (1824), in which "...Mr. Blust... instead of being one sheet in the wind, was likely to get to three before he took his departure." (Martin, 2023). Hence, "three sheets in/to the wind" describes an inebriated person (Smyth & Belcher, 1867; Martin, 2023) no longer in control, and—at least historically—lesser numbers implying lessened states of incapacity (Martin, 2023).

That late in the evening, he was three sheets to the wind and had long since stopped making sense.


trivium

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Latin trivium.

(zoology) The three anterior ambulacra of echinoderms, collectively.


threesome

Threesomes are huge right now. They're the blow job of the '90s.

1998 July 26, Jenny Bicks, “Three's a Crowd”, in Sex and the City, season 1, episode 8, spoken by Samantha:

‘Tell me everything,’ she said to Losse, and when she’d heard everything, got the colleague who kept suggesting a threesome discreetly demoted.

2013, Joanna Biggs, “Tell me everything”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 7:

Being polyamorous isn't inherently wrong. Neither is desiring threesomes or kinky sex.

2016 April 3, Zachary Zane, “Where Do "Messy Bisexuals" Fit Into the Bi+ Community?”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 2022-06-07:

That’s a threesome joke about her fucking children! It was in the first season and they gave her another one!

2016, Tim Carvell [et al.], “Charter Schools”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 22, John Oliver (actor), Warner Bros. Television, via HBO:

An instance of sexual activity involving three people.

тро́йка

a sexual activity involving three people


trivalent

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-trivalent.wav

(inorganic chemistry) Having a valence of three.


trident

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin tridēns, from tri- (“three”) + dēns (“tooth”).

(geometry) A curve of third order of the form:


Third Reich

the Third Reich (canonical)
3rd Reich (alternative)

Partial calque of German Drittes Reich (literally “third empire, third realm”). The first Reich in this reckoning is the Holy Roman Empire and the second is the German Empire. The Weimar Republic, although officially called Deutsches Reich as well, was rejected by the National Socialists and therefore not counted.

partial calque

German Empire
Holy Roman Empire
Weimar Republic

Тре́тий рейх m (Trétij rejx) (various capitalisation is used)


Trinity

He speaks distinctly of the Trinity of the godhead in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

1836, Thomas Robbins, A Discourse on the Doctrine of the Trinity, page 17:

From all eternity Jesus Christ existed, and Jesus Christ was with God the Father, the first person of the Trinity; and Jesus Christ was God the Son, the second person of the Trinity.

1846, John Wilson, Scripture Proofs and Scriptural Illustrations of Unitarianism, page 149:

(Christianity) In Christian belief, the three persons (trine, personae) of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

drie-eenheid

Christianity: three persons of the Godhead


triplet

PIE word
 *tréyes
From triple + -et, q.v.

(music) A group of three notes played or written where two notes would ordinarily be; a form of tuplet.

三连音

(music) group of three notes played in place of two

A set of three, particularly
(physics) A triquark.

A set of three, particularly
A triquark.

(physics) A quantum state with three allowed projections for the spin.

A constructed gem consisting of a thin slice of natural opal sandwiched between a clear glass or quartz top and a synthetic or stone backing that enhances the colour of the opal.

One of a group of three siblings born at the same time to the same mother.

trinjak

one of three siblings born at the same time of the same mother

threeling

one of a group of three siblings born at the same time


ménage à trois

ménages à trois (plural)
menage a trois (alternative)
ménage-à-trois (alternative)
menage-a-trois (alternative)

/ˌmeɪnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/ˌmɛnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/məˌnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/ˌmeɪnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/ˌmɛnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/məˌnɑːʒ ɑː ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

/məˌnɑːʒeɪ ˈt(ɹ)wɑː/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ménage à trois.wav

Borrowed from French ménage à trois (literally “household of three”).

bor

David and Angela and I had a ménage à trois for about five minutes, but then I made her leave because David and I were gonna play.

1996, Cyrinda Foxe, in McNeil & McCain, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, page 134

No, the two guys don't go for each other; the triad tried a ménage à trois once but stopped because Chris thought it was icky.

1999 November 15, John Cloud, “Henry & Mary & Janet &…”, in Time:

(sex) A sexual act or experience involving three people; a threesome.


teapoy

teapoys (plural)
tepoy (alternative)
tea-poy (alternative)

→ Bengali: টিপাই (ṭipai)

→ Kannada: ಟೀಪಾಯಿ (ṭīpāyi)

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Hindi तिपाई (tipāī), Urdu تپائی (tipāi, “teapoy”), from a merger of Sanskrit त्रिपाद (tripāda, “tripod”) + Classical Persian سه پای (sih-pāy, “tripod”), with the spelling of the first element influenced by association with tea. Sanskrit त्रि (tri, “three”), the first element of त्रिपाद (tripāda), is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”); while Classical Persian پای (pây, “foot”), the second element of سه پای, is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds (“foot”), from *ped- (“to step; to walk; to fall; to stumble”). Doublet of tripod and tripus.

ref

From the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, USA.

der

“They're like the teapoys in the Lakka Bazar — good material but not polished.”

1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 15:

The teapoy, derived from the Hindi/Persian phrase denoting a three-footed table, supported a tea set or tea-related objects. Not all teapoys were tripod-like tables or sold singly. The Carneses imported lacquer teapoys in sets. These sets could be easily stacked in a corner of the drawing room and brought out at teatime to hold a teacup, a set, or a caddy. The Carneses purchased lacquered teapoys sets for four dollars in China and probably sold them for twice that amount in America.

2019, Nancy E. Davis, “Afong Moy Presents Chinese Objects for the Home”, in The Chinese Lady: Afong Moy in Early America, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part II (The Show), pages 107–108:

(originally India) Originally, a three-legged decorative stand or table; now, especially, one with recesses for holding tea caddies and/or a tea service.

টিপাই

three-legged decorative stand or table; especially, one with recesses for holding tea caddies and/or a tea service


triple play

There has only been one unassisted triple play recorded in the World Series.

(baseball) A defensive play in which three outs are recorded.

triple eliminació

(baseball) a play where three outs are recorded

The local cable company is offering a triple play service.

An offering of three bundled services, especially telephone, television and broadband Internet.


triomino

en-noun

triomino (plural triominoes or triominos)

/tɹaɪˈɒmɪnəʊ/

/tɹaɪˈɑmɪˌnoʊ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-triomino.wav

A polyomino made up of three squares connected edge to edge.


triton

From trito- + -on. From tritium, from Ancient Greek τρίτος (trítos, “third”).

(particle physics) the nucleus of a tritium atom, consisting of a proton and two neutrons


triton

From Triton, who blows such a seashell like a trumpet.

Any of several marine gastropods of the family Ranellidae, which have a pointed spiral shell.


tricolour

tricolours (plural)
tricolor (alternative US)

An anglicisation of the French tricolore; the flag originated in France. Equivalent to tri- + colour.

Tricolours are seen in the national flags of over twenty countries, including Belgium, France, India, Italy, Russia, The Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland.

Journalists too were unwelcome and photographers had to conceal cameras. “He’s with the Guardian,” a man in his 60s, holding a tricolour, shouted.

2023 November 24, Rory Carroll, “‘Government is not listening’: anger over immigration spills into riot on Dublin’s streets”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A flag consisting of three stripes that are either vertical or horizontal; all of equal size, and of a different colour each.

عَلَم ثُلَاثِيّ الْأَلْوَانِ

A flag with three stripes of different colours


tricolour

tricolour film


tricolor

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-tricolor.wav

(American spelling) Alternative form of tricolour.


three-peat

en-verb

three-peat (third-person singular simple present three-peats, present participle three-peating, simple past and past participle three-peated)

three-peats (present singular third-person)
three-peating (participle present)
three-peated (participle past)
three-peated (past)
threepeat (alternative)

(US, slang) To win something three times consecutively.


trifecta

Along with runtime errors, two other errors we saw earlier round out the JavaScript bug trifecta: syntax errors, logic errors, and runtime errors.

2007, Michael Morrison, Head First JavaScript, page 525:

I might never have learned my name or met my birth family if I hadn't ended up in the hospital in Rhode Island in 2007, after traveling to a trifecta of malaria hotspots: Mali, Egypt and Colombia.

2013 November 27, Emily Jane O'Dell, “Deep cover”, in The New York Times:

And the Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall trifecta stumbled through inconsistent chemistry as they, too, attempted to insult their peers.

2024 March 10, Fran Hoepfner, “What Billy Crystal Knew About Hosting the Oscars”, in The Atlantic:

(by extension) A set of three related things, often things that cause problems.


triduum

Borrowed from Latin trīduum, from trēs (“three”) + diēs (“day”).

I’m much more comfortable on Maundy Thursday, the beginning of the Triduum, the holiest three days in the Christian calendar.

2023 April 8, Esau McCaulley, “On Hope, Hate and the Most Radical Claim of the Easter Season”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A period of three days (especially in Roman Catholic liturgy).


trefoil

From Middle English trefoil, from Old French trifoil, trefeul, from Latin trifolium, from tri- (“three”) + folium (“leaf”).


tricameral

From tri- + Latin camera (“chamber”) + -al.

(government) Having three legislative chambers.


triangulation

en-noun

triangulation (countable and uncountable, plural triangulations)

/tɹʌɪaŋɡjʊˈleɪʃn̩/

/ˌtɹaɪˌæŋɡjəˈleɪʃən/

From Medieval Latin triangulātiōnem (“triangulation”), from triangulāre (“to triangulate”) + -tiōnem (suffix forming nouns relating to some actions or the results of actions). Triangulāre is derived from triangulāris (“triangular”), from triangulus (“triangular; triangle”), from trēs (“three”) + angulus (“angle; corner”). The English word is analysable as triangulate + -ion, and is cognate with French triangulation.

refn

An engraving from a 16th-century treatise by Levinus Hulsius (1546–1606).

der

One recent attempt to combine both forms of data collection […] was based on a parallel methods approach, in which the results of two similar but separately located studies were triangulated. Triangulation entails overlapping the results at several points to enhance reliability. […] Other documented research has attempted to gain a broader view through the triangulation of two sets of data (quantitative and qualitative) on the same question, taken from the same respondents in a single study.

1999, Carol Grbich, “Qualitative Research: An Introduction”, in Qualitative Research in Health: An Introduction, Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, →ISBN, part 1 (Theory and Design), pages 17–18:

Even though triangulation is used in quantitative paradigm for confirmation and generalization of a research, Barbour (1998) does not disregard the notion of triangulation in qualitative paradigm and she states the need to define triangulation from a qualitative research's perspective in each paradigm. For example, in using triangulation of several data sources in quantitative research, any exception may lead to a disconfirmation of the hypothesis where exceptions in qualitative research are dealt to modify the theories and are fruitful.

2003 December 1, Nahid Golafshani, “Understanding Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research”, in The Qualitative Report, volume 8, number 4, page 603:

Multiple sources of data were used to create a triangulation of evidence: books, documentation, archival records and relevant publications by key actors, particularly in the development field, open ended interviews, participant-observation conducted during field work and a case study. […] Triangulation was initially conceptualized as a strategy to validating results achieved with individual research methods. The focus of this research strategy, however, has increasingly shifted towards enriching and complementing knowledge and towards expanding and furthering the potential of individual methods.

2014, Alexander Cárdenas, “Introduction”, in Football: Origins, Paths and New Dimensions: Master’s Thesis, [Munich]: GRIN Verlag, →ISBN, section 1.2 (Research Methods), page 4:

(uncountable, qualitative research) The use of three (or more) researchers to interview the same people or to evaluate the same evidence to reduce the impact of individual bias.


triumvirate

From Latin triumvirātus, from triumvirī (“triumvirs”) + -ātus (“-ate”).

An official group of three people, especially a ruling council of three men and particularly (historical) two such councils in Roman history.


threefold

From Middle English threfold, from Old English þrīfeald. Equivalent to three + -fold.

"We recognise that electrifying more of the railway is likely to be necessary to deliver decarbonisation," it stated.
There's clearly a growing momentum in that direction, but some significant hurdles have still to be overcome - not least the legacy of the three-fold increase in cost on the Great Western Electrification Programme, which has become the poster project for expensive wiring.

2020 May 20, Andrew Haines talks to Stefanie Foster, “Repurpose rail for the 2020s”, in Rail, page 33:


tricameralism

(government) The practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers.


triathlon

/tɹaɪˈæθlɒn/

/tɹaɪˈæθˌlɑn/

/tɹaɪˈæθəˌlɑn/

եռամարտ

event in which contestants compete in three different sports

Generally, a sports event in which contestant compete in a combination of three sports.


triennial

From Latin triennium (“three-year period”), from tres (“three”) + annus (“year”). By surface analysis, tri- + -ennial.

A plant that requires three years to complete its life-cycle.

тригоди́шнина

plant that requires three years to complete its life cycle


triannual

every three years; usually every four months

triennial which is sometimes confused with triannual


tribasic

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(chemistry, of an acid) containing three replaceable hydrogen atoms


triathlete

This is how Alzheimer's transforms encyclopedians into vegetables, how Parkinson's immobilizes triatheletes.

(athletics) An athlete who competes in the triathlon.


triplicate

Early 15th century. From Latin triplicātus, perfect passive participle of triplicō (“to triple”) (see -ate), from tri- (“three”) + plicō (“to fold”). By surface analysis, tri- (“three”) + plicate, analogous with duplicate.

surf

Made thrice as much; threefold; tripled.


triplicate

en-noun

triplicate (countable and uncountable, plural triplicates)

The prime minister is a determined centralist in thrall to a tactless and obsessive aide, Cummings, whose skill seems limited to writing slogans in triplicate.

2020 July 20, Simon Jenkins, “Britain deserves better than an Old Etonian Donald Trump”, in The Guardian:

(uncountable) The making of three identical copies of something.

Among the six bottles, three of them were pumped every 30 minutes and the three others every 60 minutes. This provided a triplicate of each condition (30 or 60 minutes idle time between pumping).

2022, Vincent Busigny, François P. Mathon, Didier Jézéquel, Cécile C. Bidaud, Eric Viollier, Gérard Bardoux, Jean-Jacques Bourrand, Karim Benzerara, Elodie Duprat, Nicolas Menguy, Caroline L. Monteil, Christopher T. Lefevre, “Mass collection of magnetotactic bacteria from the permanently stratified ferruginous Lake Pavin, France”, in Environmental Microbiology, volume 24, number 2 (Special Issue: microbe:metal/metalloid interactions), →DOI, pages 721-736:

(countable) Each of a set of three identical objects or copies.

triplikato

each of a set of three identical objects


triplicate

en-verb

triplicate (third-person singular simple present triplicates, present participle triplicating, simple past and past participle triplicated)

triplicates (present singular third-person)
triplicating (participle present)
triplicated (participle past)
triplicated (past)

(transitive) To make three identical copies of something.


trisect

(biology) Trisected; divided into three.


triadic

(mathematics) Having an arity of three; taking three arguments or operands.


three-up

(gambling) A gambling game played with three coins.


samisen

He sees her chastened and cast-down eyes as she kneels and tinkles away on her samisen


shamisen

shamisens (plural)
shamisen (plural)
samisen (alternative)
syamisen (alternative)

(music) A kind of three-stringed Japanese fretless lute.

jabisen

used mainly in reference to archaic forms of the instrument from the Ryukyu Islands


tricolon

From Ancient Greek τρικωλος (trikōlos, “having three parts”).

bor

(rhetoric) A sentence with three clearly defined parts of equal length, usually independent clauses.


three o'clock

The front desk closes at three o'clock (= "The front desk closes at 3:00 a.m.").

(In both the 12-hour clock and the 24-hour clock) The start of the fourth hour of the day; 3:00 a.m. (03:00).

тре́тя годи́на f (trétja hodýna, literally “third hour”)


threepence

en-noun

threepence (countable and uncountable, plural threepences)

(countable, historical) A former (pre-decimalisation) British or Irish coin worth three old pence.


tricuspid valve

tricuspid valve (plural tricuspid valves)

A heart valve with three cusps which prevents backflow of blood from the right ventricle into the right atrium.


third leg

Suggesting a penis as long as one's leg.

(humorous, slang) A penis; specifically a long one.


three-on-the-tree

In driver's education, they used to teach students to drive in cars with a three-on-the-tree, but now the cars all have automatic transmission.

(US, idiomatic) On an automobile (especially those produced from 1939 through the mid-1970s), a three-speed manual transmission whose gearshift lever is mounted on the steering column.


hattrick

Alternative spelling of hat trick; three goals in one game.


threescore

From three + score, compare the etymology of Danish tres.

And their brethren, heads of the house of their fathers, a thousand, and seuen hundred and threescore, very able men for the worke of the seruice of the house of God.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Chronicles 9:13:

Words cannot picture her; but all men know
That solemn sketch the pure sad artist wrought
Three centuries and threescore years ago

1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, XXI

We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

2012 January 18, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2012-11-14, page 23:


three-space

(mathematics) A vector space whose basis of real numbers has three vectors


trine

From Middle English trine, from Middle French trin, from Latin trīnus.

a single trine of brazen tortoises

1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Eighth Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:


triplex

From Latin triplex. Analyzable as tri- + -plex.

Having three parts; triple or threefold.

(architecture) Having three units, divisions, suites, apartments


triplex

triplex (countable and uncountable, plural triplexes)

A building with three apartments or divisions.

There were influential and corruptible people like his friend, Max, onetime singer for the Pink Buttons, now a wind-power potentate who owned a SoHo triplex and threw a caviar-strewn Christmas party each year […]

2010, Jennifer Egan, “Pure Language”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad:

(juggling) A throwing motion where three balls are thrown with one hand at the same time.

In a recent paper on homopyrimidine decamers containing aeg-monomers and thymine monomers with a sulfomethyl substituent at the γ-position, similar triplexes has also been described [43 ].

2015 October 16, “Polyanionic Carboxyethyl Peptide Nucleic Acids ( ce -PNAs): Synthesis and DNA Binding”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


trinitarianism

trinitarianism (countable and uncountable, plural trinitarianisms)

trinitarianisms (plural)
Trinitarianism (alternative)

(theology) The monotheistic Christian doctrine that defines God as three divine persons or hypostases: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

kolminaisuusoppi

doctrine of three persons or hypostases in one Godhead


trihedron

trihedron (plural trihedrons or trihedra)

(mathematics) A geometric figure composed of three planes meeting at a single vertex.


tertian

From Middle English tertiān, terciān, terciāne (adjective and noun), originally often as part of the collocation fever cum terciane, after Latin febris cum tertiānā. Compare the "third" essence of tertiary.

(music) Pertaining to the mean-tone temperament, in which major thirds are perfectly in tune.


tertile

(statistics) Either of the two points that divide an ordered distribution into three parts, each containing a third of the population.


triphthong

/ˈtɹɪfˌθɒŋ(ɡ)/

/ˈtɹɪpˌθɒŋ(ɡ)/

From the Ancient Greek τρίφθογγος (tríphthongos, “triphthong, having three voices”), from τρία (tría, “three”) + φθόγγος (phthóngos, “sound”).

uder

A monosyllabic vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another that passes over a third one.

تْرِفْثُنْغ

monosyllabic vowel combination involving movement from one vowel to another


triple agent

There are also triple agents—people who do what the doubles have done, but change their minds and, under our control, pass phoney intelligence back to the Russians. Do you understand? It’s nothing but a complicated game, really.

1980 [1962], Ian Fleming, chapter 11, in The Spy Who Loved Me, →ISBN, page 150:

A spy who pretends to be a double agent for one side, while actually acting as a double agent for the other side.


threepeat

en-verb

threepeat (third-person singular simple present threepeats, present participle threepeating, simple past and past participle threepeated)

threepeats (present singular third-person)
threepeating (participle present)
threepeated (participle past)
threepeated (past)
three-peat (alternative)

(US, slang) To win something three times consecutively.


antepenult

Either formed from ante- + penult and modelled on Latin or a shortening of Latin antepaenultima/antepēnultima (syllaba).

This elementary instruction is language at its most advanced to minds trained on the accentuation of the antepenult (multiplicity) and on Sievers-type C2 half-line metrical patterns[.]

1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 110:


quinquereme

From Latin quīnquerēmis (“5-oared”), from quīnque (“five”) + rēmus (“oar”) + -is (suffix forming compound adjectives).

Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir / Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine / With a cargo of ivory, / And apes and peacocks, / Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

(historical) An ancient Carthaginian or Greek galley having three banks of oars, rowed by five oarsmen: two to an oar in each of the upper rows, and one to the lower oar.


tribrach

tribrachs (plural)
tribracchus (alternative)
tribrack (alternative)
tribrachus (alternative)
tribrachys (alternative)
tribrac (alternative)

PIE word
 *tréyes
From the Latin tribrachys, from the Ancient Greek τρῐ́βρᾰχῠς (trĭ́brăkhŭs), from τρῐ- (trĭ-, “tri-”) + βρᾰχῠ́ς (brăkhŭ́s, “short”). Compare the French tribraque.

prefix

For your foote tribracchus of all three short, ye haue very few trissillables.

1589, George Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, book ii, chapter xiii (Arb.), page 133

We may vse a Spondee or Iambick and sometime a Tribrack or Dactile.

1602, Thomas Campion, chapter IV, in Observations in the Art of English Poesie, page 11:

Tribrachus or Tribrachys, (Gr[eek]) a Foot in Greek and Latin Verſe, conſiſting of three ſhort Syllables; as Pŏpŭlŭs.

[1706, Edward Phillips, compiler, J[ohn] K[ersey the younger], “Tribrachus or Tribrachys”, in The New World of Words: Or, Universal English Dictionary. […], 6th edition, London: […] J. Phillips, […]; N. Rhodes, […]; and J. Taylor, […], →OCLC, column 1:

Of all the resolved feet, the Tribrach in Trochaic verse with its ictus on the first syllable ⏑́⏑⏑ is most readily recognised by the ear as equivalent to the Trochee.

1827, the Rev’d Canon James Tate, An Introduction to the Principal Greek Tragic and Comic Metres in Scansion, Structure, and Ictus (second edition, 1829), chapter xi: “The Ictus of the long Trochaic of Tragedy”, §5 (page 23)

If the range of pure tribrachic measure, or of tribrachs intermingled with trochees, appears much wider in our song-books than in volumes of poetry written to be read.

1866, John Stuart Blackie, Homer and the Iliad, volume I, page 401:

The plain tribrach is frequent in every one’s reading.

1885, Thomas Dwight Goodell, “Quantity in English Verse”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, XVI, page 88:

(prosody) A metrical foot consisting of three short syllables.

tribraque

prosody: metrical foot comprising three short syllables


tricorn

Having three horns or similar projections


ternary

From Late Latin ternārius (“consisting of three things”), from ternī (“three each”).

der

And albeit these thynges be waighty and truthes of great importance, yet (by the infinite goodnes of the Almighty Ternarie,) Artificiall Methods and easy wayes are made, by which the zelous Philosopher, may wyn nere this Riuerish Ida, this Mountayne of Contemplation […] .

1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface


triple dog dare

en-verb

triple dog dare (third-person singular simple present triple dog dares, present participle triple dog daring, simple past and past participle triple dog dared)

triple dog dares (present singular third-person)
triple dog daring (participle present)
triple dog dared (participle past)
triple dog dared (past)

I triple dog dare you to jump.

"I double dog dare you!" "Oh yeah? Well, I triple dog dare you!"

(slang, US) Used to denote compounding levels of dare "seriousness"; the escalation of a double dog dare.


me three

A pun, based on a jocular re-interpretation of me too as me two. Can be continued as me four, me five, and so on.

“...Come if you can—he’d like that a lot.” / “Me, too.” / “Me, three.” She gave a girlish giggle and unlocked her door.

1982, Richard Kluger, Un-American Activities, Doubleday Publishing, page 524

“I hate saying good-bye,” Lulu said sadly. / “Me too,” Pam said. / “Me three,” Anna said.

1995, Jeanne Betancourt, Give Me Back My Pony, Scholastic Paperbacks,, →ISBN, page 16:

Perhaps a first worker complained about an aspect of their work environment, and others chimed in—Me too, me three!

2006, Michelle Murphy, Sick Building Syndrome and the Problem of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience, and Women Workers, Duke University Press, page 1

(idiomatic, humorous) Used to express agreement, after someone has already said "me too." Can be continued as "me four," "me five," and so on.


me three

Mostly, I just wanted to say sort of a me-too, or me-three, or me-ten statement at this point: The census is extremely important.

1980 June 7, in U.S. House Subcommittee on Census and Population, Oversight hearings on the 1980 census: hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first [-second] session, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 95

(idiomatic) An expression of support to a position that has already been proposed and seconded after someone has already said "me too." Can be continued as me four, me five, and so on.


tristate

This tristate logic deals with true, false, and unknown values.

Having, or pertaining to, three distinct states.

The event will be sponsored by several tristate businesses.

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a region in the United States where three state borders come to a single point.


tristate

The 4 input ports are simply tristates that can be addressed to enable the data from any one of them to be read by the standard input port of the printer interface.

2000, John Blankenship, C is for Control:

Configuration options that control the build process are either Booleans or tristates.

2010, Robert Love, Linux Kernel Development, page 14:

(programming) A variable, etc. that can take any of three distinct values.

The Tristate is on alert after a rash of home burglaries.

(often capitalized) The area in some regions of the United States where three state borders come to a single point.


trey

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English treye, from Anglo-Norman trei or treis, from Old French treis (“three”). Doublet of three and tres.

(informal) The third bearer of the same personal name in a family, often denoted by suffixed Roman numeral III.


triply

It is important to lock the door, and triply so at night.

What is worse is how the custom-designed treatment programs for our community that are springing up make no provision for those of us doubly, triply or even quadruply oppressed […] This neglect is a symptom of the dysfunctionality afflicting our community: the degree to which we've permitted too many assimilationists to define the standards of identity for us all.

1990 February 4, Leonard Tirado, “Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 5:

(usually of relative importance) At three times the severity or degree.


terce

en-noun

terce (countable and uncountable, plural terces)

Late Middle English, from Old French terce, from Latin tertia (“third; the third hour”).

(chiefly Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy) The service appointed for this hour.


trifocals

From tri- + focal (see focus). Coined by John Isaac Hawkins, their inventor, in 1826.

(optics) Spectacles with corrective lenses that have three different powers per eye.


trilateral

The trilateral peace conference, between the red faction, blue faction and white faction, went nowhere.

Meanwhile, a trilateral agreement has been signed with the French and Irish governments committing the nations to keeping freight routes open throughout the pandemic.

2020 May 6, “Network News: Shapps: Network Rail puts spare capacity to use”, in Rail, page 15:


cubed

(mathematics) Raised to the third power.


iron(III) oxide

af

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">III</i>

(chemistry) The chemical compound Fe₂O₃: the iron oxide in which iron has a valence of +3.


trinomial

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Consisting of three names or parts or terms.


trinomial

(algebra) An expression consisting of three terms.


trifid

From Latin trifidus, from tri- (“three”) + -fidus, form of findere (“to split”).

The leafits are four or five pairs, with a trifid terminal leafit.

1850, George Luxford, Edward Newman, The Phytologist: A Popular Botanical Miscellany, page 1058:


trifurcation

en-noun

trifurcation (countable and uncountable, plural trifurcations)


thruppence

thruppence (countable and uncountable, plural thruppences)

"For thruppence you can buy one, full right to the brim."

1971, Richard Sinclair with Caravan, “Golf Girl”, in In the Land of Grey and Pink:


trichotomy

trichotomy (countable and uncountable, plural trichotomies)

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From Ancient Greek τριχοτομία (trikhotomía), from τρίχα (tríkha) + τόμος (tómos) + -ία (-ía).

affix

Division or separation into three groups or pieces.

[A linear order] obeys the following trichotomy law[.]

Aliprantis, Border (2006), Infinite Dimensional Analysis: A Hitchhiker's Guide (3rd ed.), p. 6

(algebra) the property of an order relation whereby, given an ordered pair of elements (of a given algebraic structure), exactly one of these is true: the first element is 'less than' the second one, the second is 'less than' the first, or the two elements are equal.


trifunctional

Sequential living polymerizations of hydrophilic and hydrophobic vinyl ethers from these trifunctional initiators give amphiphilic triarmed block copolymers where the hydrophilic segments may be placed either inner or outer layer of the three arms.

1997, Hatada, Macromolecular Design of Polymeric Materials, →ISBN, page 45:

(organic chemistry) Having three functional groups


trimetallic

(chemistry) Containing atoms of three metals in each molecule.


third-degree

in the third degree (alternative)
3rd degree (alternative)

The jury found him guilty of third-degree murder since he had only meant to beat the clown, not to kill him.

At the third level of some system, particularly:

(law) The least severe level of felony, typically involving a lack of planning and/or the presence of various mitigating factors.

(of burns) An extremely severe level of damage, typically involving major scarring and damage to subcutaneous tissue as well as the epidermis.


trefot

1984 Futharc A Handbook of Runic Magic, Eldred Thorson, Weser, →ISBN, page 108.
Trefot - dynamic power from the three realms of being and the threefold evolutionary force.

1993 Our Troth, by the Ring of Troth and other true folk, The Ring of Troth, →ISBN, page 668.
Trefot - also called triskelion (swirling form).

1997 Theod Volume IV Number 1 (Heathen Journal), Two Charms Against Dwarves, Eric Lord Wodening.
If so we can be assured that the crosses were substituted for some heathen symbol, valkntR, trefot or fylfot.

(Germanic paganism) A three-armed spiral symbol used in Heathenry to represent the god Woden or the Norns.


tethera

From Brythonic numerals, extended from a root *tri.

(Cumbria) three in Celtic sheep counting


trigraph

Letter “i” is pronounced as /aɪ/ when followed by the trigraph “ght”, as in right /raɪt/.

Then, practice reading fluency sentences together that contain words with trigraphs and other mastered words.

2023 December 6, Sarah Forst, “How to Teach Trigraphs DGE & TCH”, in The Designer Teacher:

(linguistics) A specific sequence of three letters, especially one used collectively to represent a single phoneme.


triphase

Of, pertaining to, or having three phases


threeway

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-threeway.wav

(sex) Alternative spelling of three-way (“sexual act involving three people”).


triunity

en-noun

triunity (countable and uncountable, plural triunities)

triunities (plural)
Triunity (alternative)
tri-unity (alternative)
Tri-unity (alternative)
Tri-Unity (alternative)

From tri- + unity; cf. triune + -ity. See also trīnitās.

God's attributes as such, his holiness, his justice, his mercy, his absoluteness, his infinity, his omniscience, his tri-unity, […] have proved fertile wells of inspiring meditation for Christian believers.

1902, William James, “Lecture III: The Reality of the Unseen”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 54:

The fact or state of being three in one (usually with reference to the Christian idea of the Trinity).


tritactic

(chemistry) Describing a tactic polymer that has three sites of stereoisomerism in its chain


trinary

From Late Latin trīnārius (“consisting of three”), from Latin trīni (“triple, three each”) + -ārius.


triune

PIE word
 *tréyes
Borrowed from Medieval Latin triūnus.

Christians believe in a triune God, meaning that he is three hypostases in perfect unity.

1990, Mary Ann Fatula, The Triune God of Christian Faith, Liturgical Press (Michael Glazier Books), page 21,
To be Christian today thus means reflective and critical fidelity to the essential elements of our Christian heritage in scripture and tradition, yet in a way that enables us to respond to the ever new presence of the triune God active in our own experience and world.

2003, Jeffrey C. Pugh, Entertaining the Triune Mystery, Continuum International Publishing Group (Trinity Press International), page 80,
Because the triune God is seen in ways that reflect relationality, God's presence can be expressed in the world in such a way that gnostic separation of the world and God should not be allowed to be a central part of Christian belief.

And in a double movement, the descent of the eternal Son is the Triune God's movement to initiate and enable reconciliation decisively with humanity, which is then followed by the ascent of the human Christ to continue the enabled relationship with the Triune God.

2014, Dick O. Eugenio, Communion with the Triune God, Wipf and Stock, unnumbered page:

(chiefly religion, Christianity) Both trine and one at the same time.


trilling

Diametrically opposed rays of these stellate groups are of the same optical orientation and the twins are, therefore, trillings ( fig. 29 ).

1966, Geological Survey Professional Paper - Issues 509-510, page 55:

Chrysoberyl is orthorhombic in symmetry. Like many orthorhombic minerals, it readily forms an intergrowth with two other individual crystals to make trillings with six sides or, at least, V-shaped twins.

1974, Mineral Digest, volumes 6-8, page 148:

In the embryonic stage, pseudohexagonal trillings resemble those of the post-embryonic stage (Figure 2D,E), and are 1 to 3 μm in diameter.

2013, Federico Olóriz, Francisco J. Rodríguez-Tovar, Advancing Research on Living and Fossil Cephalopods, page 235:

(crystallography) A compound crystal consisting of three individuals.

Every 67th lying-in woman has twins, every 5333rd has trillings, and only every 150,000th has fourlings.

1842, “Sweden as it is; Moral, Political and Statistical”, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 28, number 55, page 449:

this breed is prominent for its remarkable fecundity and yield of milk; as a rule, this goat litters once a year and drops 2 kids; occasionally trillings and fourlings.

1922, The Goat World, Devoted to the Upbuilding of the Goat Industry, page 67:

About twins and trillings.

1926, Medicina fennica - Volumes 1-5, page 14:

(obsolete, rare) One of three offspring born at the same birth; a triplet.


triple bluff

An action which is intended to be perceived as a double bluff, but which is in fact merely a bluff.


triennium

en-noun

triennium (plural trienniums or triennia)

/trʌɪˈɛnɪəm/

From Latin triennium, from triennis (“3-year”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).


tercile

We estimate markups following the production-function approach proposed by De Loecker and Warzynski (2012) […] and then classify firms in the top tercile of the markup distribution as high-markup firms and firms in the bottom tercile as low-markup firms.

2025 January 18, Niklas Amberg, Richard Friberg, Chad Syverson, “Have We Got News For You: Firm-Level Evidence on the Optimal Choice of Expected Capacity Utilization”, in NBER Working Papers, number 33400, page 16:


trisyllable

trisyllables (plural)
trissyllable (alternative)


troilism

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Now if it's true, as I believe, that every woman has a bit of a lesbian streak, or at least curiosity, then it follows that the ideal way to satisfy it is with troilism — making love with two girls and a man. I've tried it myself and I know.

The woman wants to censor us, Hill. If she had her way, all we'd show would be Andy bloody Pandy, and she'd stop him climbing into that basket with Looby Lou - let alone Teddy - lest some child be corrupted by the whiff of puppet troilism. And bestiality, I suppose - or would it be bestiality with a teddy bear... rather than a real bear?

2008, Hugh Carleton Greene, portrayed by Hugh Bonneville in Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story, on his exasperation at Mary Whitehouse's (Julie Walters) attempts to remove any material deemed mildly offensive from BBC TV

The practice of three people having sex, i.e. having threesomes.


threeness

threeness (countable and uncountable, plural threenesses)

From three + -ness. Compare Middle English þrinnesse, þrimnesse, þremnesse, þrumnesse (“trinity”, literally “three-ness”), Old English þrīnes, þrinnes (“trinity”, literally “three-ness”).

the Cappadocian Fathers provided a way of speaking about the Trinity which would create a balance between threeness and oneness.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin Books, page 218:

[...] This statement focuses more on God's oness than on his threeness.

2012, Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering, The Oxford Handbook Of The Trinity:

The state of being three; triunity; trinity.


triple star

(astronomy) Three stars which form a stellar system, such that they orbit the point of equilibrium of their gravitational fields; a trinary star.

(astronomy) Three stars that appear to be one when seen with the naked eye, either because they orbit one another (trinary stars) or happen to be in the same line of sight even though they are separated by a great distance.


threeish

(colloquial) Any time close to three o'clock.


triga

From Latin triga, a contraction of ter or tri- (“thrice”) + iuga (“yoked”).

(historical) A three-horse chariot used by the Ancient Romans.


trit

Blend of trinary + digit, formed in analogy to bit from binary digit.

For example, consider storing trits (recall Section 2.6.4), which take values in {0, 1, 2}. If we use 2 bits per value, then an array A[1, n] of trits requires 2n bits.

2016, Gonzalo Navarro, Compact Data Structures, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 45:

(computing) The ternary equivalent of a bit; a fundamental unit of information that may take any of three distinct states.


triptote

From Latin triptōtum, from Ancient Greek τρίπτωτος (tríptōtos), from τρι- (tri-, “three”) + πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”) + -τος (-tos, verbal adjective–forming suffix), influenced by the verbal noun πτῶσις (ptôsis, “inflection”).

affix

In Modern Standard Arabic, nouns belong to triptotes or diptotes, or can be indeclinable.


third time's a charm

third time's the charm (alternative)
three times a charm (alternative)

One is sure to succeed at a task or event on the third try.

Бог лю́бит тро́ицу (Bog ljúbit tróicu, literally “God likes Trinity”)


triquetra

en-noun

triquetra (plural triquetras or triquetrae)

From Latin triquētrus (“having three corners”).

der

A shape formed of three vesicae piscium, sometimes with an additional circle, a symbol of things and persons that are threefold (including the Christian Trinity), and a symbol of protection in Wicca.


tertial

From Latin tertius (“third”); the tertial feathers are the third row of feathers.

He continues — "There was the same rear up, with the head bent down, followed by an upjerk of the hind parts; the long sickle-shaped tertials, so noticeable in this species, seemed little if at all expanded, […]

1923, Arthur Cleveland Bent, Life Histories of North American Birds: Wild Fowl, page 76:

(ornithology) Any flight feather attached to the humerus (upper arm) of a bird.


tetrachotomy

tĕtrəkŏʹtəmĭ

/tɛtɹəˈkɒtəmɪ/

From τέτραχα (tétrakha, “quadripartite”) + τόμος (tómos, “slice, piece”) (from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”)).


three-way

three-ways (plural)
threeway (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-three-way.wav

The sense referring to a serving of Cincinnati chili was coined in the 1920s by Tom and John Kiradjieff, Slavic-Macedonian immigrants to Cincinnati, for their Empress Chili chain. Doublet of trivia.

three-card monte
three-card monte#English


six and two threes

They would fob us off with that and once more make it six and two threes.

I said, "Well, it's six and two threes. I get three pound off you here, and I have to work all week for £5 and I get me stamps off, whatever.

1982, Dennis Marsden, Workless: an exploration of the social contract between society and the worker:

I'll leave it up to you whether you wish to include it; in other words, it's six and two threes.

2006, J J Dewey, Eternal Words: The Immortal Series:

(idiomatic) Two equivalent choices or situations.


thirding

(obsolete) A riding (administrative division).


triskele

Circa 1885, alongside triskeles (c. 1880), from French triskèle (1835).

Guerra stepped up, looked at my shoulder and saw the triskele design.

2021, Pedro Mairal, The Woman from Uruguay, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 100:


three-headed

/ˈθɹiːˌhɛdəd/


three-wheeler

An autorickshaw, tuk-tuk or trishaw having three wheels.


triplon

(physics) A quasiparticle associated with triplet states


trinal

Like as it had bene many an Angels voice, // Singing before th’ eternall maiesty, // In their trinall triplicities on hye.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza XXXIX, page 181:

The trinal division of body, mind and soul becomes a unity, a holy trinity. And with it the realization that one aspect of our nature cannot be exalted above another...

1941, Henry Miller, The Wisdom of the Heart:


ternate

(botany) Having three divisions (or leaflets)


en-adj

3-dimensional (comparative more 3-dimensional, superlative most 3-dimensional)

more 3-dimensional (comparative)
most 3-dimensional (superlative)


tertiate

tertiate (comparative more tertiate, superlative most tertiate)

more tertiate (comparative)
most tertiate (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin tertiāt-, the perfect passive participial stem of Latin tertiō, from tertius (“third”).

apex generally somewhat acuminate; margin entire, crenate or finely dentate — leaves on lower branches and coppice shoots reputed to be 1-3 lobed; lateral veins 2-4 pairs, tertiate veins forming a prominent reticulum.

1964, Elliottia: Notes from the Herbarium of Georgia Southern College, page 8:


third culture kid

en-noun

third culture kid (plural third culture kids)

third culture kids (plural)
third-culture kid (alternative)

Coined by American sociologist and anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem in the 1950s. "Third culture" refers to a distinct way of life different from those of the birth or host countries, but common to fellow expats.

coinage

In 1984, Dr. Ted Ward, then a sociologist at Michigan State University, predicted in a plenary talk at the International Conference for Missionary Kids (ICMK) in Manila that third culture kids were the prototype citizens of the future.

2009, David C. Pollock, Ruth E. Van Reken, Third culture kids: growing up among worlds, page xii:

A young person who has lived for a significant period outside their birth (or passport) country due to parental work-related migration.


threesies

She had missed on fivesies, I'd missed on threesies, and this would be the deciding round.

1999, Susan J. Bandy, Anne S. Darden, Crossing boundaries, page 239:

A call in any children's game, such as jacks, where three actions must be performed.


threefold law

(Wicca) A key tenet of Wicca, stating that the energy a person puts out into the world, whether positive or negative, will return to them multiplied three times.


threeling

threelings (plural)
trilling (alternative)

One of three children born at the same birth; triplet.

A twoling, or twin crystal, composed of three individuals.


ternion

From Latin ternio, from terni (“three each”). See tern (adjective).

(bookbinding) A section of paper for a book containing three double leaves or twelve pages.


thryfallow

en-verb

thryfallow (third-person singular simple present thryfallows, present participle thryfallowing, simple past and past participle thryfallowed)

thryfallows (present singular third-person)
thryfallowing (participle present)
thryfallowed (participle past)
thryfallowed (past)
thrifallow (alternative)

From Middle English thry, thrie (from Old English þrīa, þrīġa (“three times, thrice”)) + fallow. Compare twifallow.

Thry fallow betime, for destroieng of weede,
least thistle and duck fall a blooming and seede

1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC:

(obsolete) To plough for the third time in summer.


Threeness

From Middle English *Threnesse, Thrumnesse, Thrimnesse, from Old English þrynnes, þrinness, variants of Old English þrȳnes, þrīnes (“Trinity”), equivalent to three + -ness.

[...] and I might not look at the brightness of His face save through a sheen mirror between me and Him that shields my eyes. So I have often seen the Holy Threeness, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, three in one, and but a little while might I bear the light.

1949, Margaret Anne Williams, Glee-wood:

I'm not sure why God needs three forms — Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I don't know why we just can't say God. ... Jon went on for a while talking about the Trinity, the "Threeness and Oneness." It didn't sound as if he was convinced, though.

2001, Brian Payton, Hail Mary Corner, Dundurn:

Therefore concern yourselves, you philosophers: how God has created this world in six days. For the work of each day is a creation of a spirit in the Holy Threeness, and the seventh day is the rest of the Sabbath of God, in the seventh [...]

2010, Jeff Bachl, translated by Michael L. Birkel, Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme, Shambhala, translation of original by Jakob Boehme:

(Christianity) In Christian belief, the three persons (personae) of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Trinity.


triduan

From Latin triduanus, from triduum (“space of three days”).

It seems to be a kind of understanding or unwritten compact between the orator and the audience, that he be allowed to talk without interruption as much as he pleases, so long as they are not called upon to listen to one word that he utters. Accordingly, during the delivery of one of these triduan discourses, the Senate of the United States wears the appearance of an orderly well-regulated reading-room; the members being comfortably seated in their arm-chairs, some looking over and answering private letters, some exchanging a few words in a low whisper with each other, or with friends in the strangers' gallery, others reading a newspaper, and all evincing the most philosophic indifference to the tedious harangue and the exhaustless lungs of the orator.

1839, Charles Augustus Murray, Travels in North America During the Years 1834, 1835 & 1836, volume II, page 318:

These Litanies are also called Rogations, and Gang Days among the Saxons, and Gang Dawes by old English writers. They are triduan, and take place on the three days before Ascension Day.

1841, Robert Thomas Hampson, Medii Evi Kalendarium: Or Dates, Charters, and Customs of the Middle Ages, page 247:

Faenza having escaped their brutality by denying them entrance, its citizens testified their gratitude for the exemption, by instituting an annual triduan thanksgiving, and dotation of two of their daughters.

1851, James Dennistoun, Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, volume 3, page 103:

Such tents of assignation are still in use in the pilgrimages of Islam at Mecca, and are known to have been constructed and afterwards burned on the ‘tent-day’ of the triduan festival of Isis at Tithorea in Phocis.

1920, American Journal of Philology, volume 41, page 43:

To consider one example of his method, the connecting link of his whole argument involves his postulates of biduan and triduan periods and so their relation to the Hewbrew hebdomads.

1930, Archaeological Institute of America, American Journal of Archaeology, page 122:

1810 January—June, The Universal Magazine, New Series, Volume XIII, page 103,
The diurnal or triduan prints are too expensive for every individual, and in consequence the weekly ones have been established; […] .


triduan

Pius IX has defined the sacred dogma, and the Catholic world has rejoiced, and Triduans, that is, three days of special joy and holy exercises, have been celebrated throughout the wide world, and continue to be celebrated in honor of the glad event.

1870, Charles George Deuther, The Life and Times of the Rt. Rev. John Timon, D. D., page 232:

Then they lift their hands up to heaven, and they give a blessing to God and Patrick with the saints of Ireland, and to every soul that is in the assembly of these triduans, whether alone or in a multitude.

1891, Henri Gaidoz, Henry Arbois de Jubainville, Joseph Loth, Paul Le Nestour, Revue Celtique, volume 12, page 433:


three-forked

his threeforkt Pyke / He stearnly shooke, and therewith fierce did stryke / The raging billowes […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC: