triad

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈtraɪæd/ UK /ˈtraɪæd/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a group or set of three related things or people

The novel's triad of narrators tells one event three ways.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a group or set of three... trio trinity threesome triplet trine

Word family

Derived forms triadic

Related forms triangle trinity triple triplet

Simplified etymology

Triad entered English in the mid-16th century meaning “a set of three” and goes back to Greek tres, meaning “three.”

Etymology

From Late Latin trias (stem triad-), from Ancient Greek trias ('a group of three'), from treis ('three').

trias Ancient Greek treis Old French *treyes Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# triad

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtraɪæd/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtraɪæd/

## Meanings
1. a group or set of three related things or people

## Examples
- The novel's triad of narrators tells one event three ways.

## Synonyms
- trio
- trinity
- threesome
- triplet
- trine

## Derived Forms
- triadic

## Related Forms
- triangle
- trinity
- triple
- triplet

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: trias
- Root: treis
- Root: *treyes

## Etymology
From Late Latin trias (stem triad-), from Ancient Greek trias ('a group of three'), from treis ('three').

## AI Etymology
Triad comes from Late Latin trias (stem triad-), from Ancient Greek trias ('a group of three'), from treis ('three'). The historical chain includes Ancient Greek trias, Ancient Greek treis, and Proto-Indo-European *treyes. The quoted older senses, "a group of three" and "three", supply the semantic anchors for triad. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word triad carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a group or set of three related things or people". English derivatives include triadic; related English forms include triangle, trinity, triple, and triplet. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- People & Society

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