tri

See also: Appendix:Variations of "tri"

Languages (32)

English

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Albanian • Atong (India) • Bislama • Breton • Cornish • Dutch • Elfdalian • Esperanto • Fanagalo • Finnish • French • Ido • Indonesian • Malay • Nigerian Pidgin • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Irish • Old Javanese • Portuguese • Romagnol • Samoan Plantation Pidgin • Serbo-Croatian • Sicilian • Slovak • Slovene • Spanish • Tok Pisin • Torres Strait Creole • Venetan • Vietnamese • Welsh

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Page categories

English

Etymology

Shortening of words with the initial component derived from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɹaɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophone: try

Noun

tri (plural tris)

1. (chiefly attributive) triathlon

   a tri bike

   a tri suit

2. (computer graphics) triangle
   • 2009, Andrew Paquette, Computer Graphics for Artists II: Environments and Characters:

     The most common poly budget in use for games at the time of this writing is between 5,000 and 10,000 tris. Anything within that range is sufficient to accommodate all superficial anatomical details without resort to optimization beyond normal model cleanup.

   • 2010, Tony Mullen, Claudio Andaur, Blender Studio Projects: Digital Movie-Making, page 91:

     Tris and quads have different areas of functionality. In real-time graphics, tris are the norm because they provide the most basic geometric representations of planes.

3. (bodybuilding, colloquial, uncommon) triceps

Anagrams

• IRT, RTI, TIR, Tir, rit

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *trī(-ā), from Proto-Indo-European *tríh₂ (“three”). Cognate to Ancient Greek τρία (tría, “three”) and Latin tria (“three”).

Numeral

tri

1. three

Related terms

• tre

Atong (India)

Etymology

From English three.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tri/

Numeral

tri (Bengali script ত্রি)

1. three

Synonyms

• tham
• rongtham
• tiin

References

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary. Stated in Appendix 2.

Bislama

Etymology 1

From English tree.

Noun

tri

1. tree

Etymology 2

Bislama cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri

From English three.

Numeral

tri

1. three

Breton

Breton cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tri, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Numeral

tri m (feminine form teir)

1. three

Cornish

Cornish cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri     Ordinal : tressa     Feminine : teyr

Alternative forms

• (Standard Cornish) try
• (Standard Written Form) trei

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tri, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Numeral

tri m (feminine form teyr)

1. three

Mutation

  Mutation of tri  

Cornish consonant mutation
unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
tri	dri	thri	unchanged	unchanged	unchanged

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

tri n (uncountable)

1. synonym for trichloorethyleen, a chemical solvent

Anagrams

• rit

Elfdalian

Elfdalian cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri     Ordinal : trið

Etymology

From Old Norse þrír, from Proto-Norse ᚦᚱᛁᛃᛟᛉ f pl (þrijoʀ), from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”).

Numeral

tri

1. three

Esperanto

Esperanto numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tri     Ordinal: tria     Adverbial: trie     Multiplier: triobla, triopa     Fractional: triona, triono

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian три (tri), Latin trēs, English three, etc., all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tri]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tri

Numeral

tri

1. three (3)

Derived terms

• trio
• tripunkto (“ellipsis”)

Fanagalo

Etymology

Borrowed from English three.

Numeral

tri

1. three

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtohtori/, [ˈt̪o̞xt̪o̞ri]

Noun

tri

1. Abbreviation of tohtori.

Usage notes

Only used in writing and together with a name, and is thus not inflected. For example in phrase tri Pentti Arajärvi only the family name Arajärvi is inflected.

Tämä tri Pentti Arajärven artikkeli on mielenkiintoinen.

This article written by Dr. Pentti Arajärvi is interesting.

French

Etymology

From trier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁi/

Noun

tri m (plural tris)

1. selection
2. (computing) sort

Derived terms

• tri à bulles

Further reading

• “tri”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• rit, rît, tir

Ido

Ido numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tri     Ordinal: triesma     Adverbial: trifoye     Multiplier: triopla     Fractional: triima

Etymology

From Esperanto tri, from English three, French trois, German drei, Spanish tres, Italian tre, Russian три (tri), all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Numeral

tri

1. three (3)

Indonesian

Indonesian cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri

Etymology

From Malay tri, from Sanskrit त्रि (tri), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tráyas, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Numeral

tri

1. three

Synonyms

• tiga
• telu

Malay

Malay numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tiga, tri, telu     Ordinal: ketiga

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit त्रि (tri), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *tráyas, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tráyas, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /təri/
• Rhymes: -əri, -ri, -i

Numeral

tri (Jawi spelling تري)

1. three

   Synonyms: tiga, telu

Derived terms

• tri-
• trisula

 

Nigerian Pidgin

Etymology

From English three.

Numeral

tri

1. three

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri     Ordinal : tridje

Alternative forms

• tre

Etymology

From Old Norse þrír, from Proto-Norse ᚦᚱᛁᛃᛟᛉ (þrijoʀ) (feminine plural), from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Compare Danish and Swedish tre, Icelandic þrír, Faroese tríggir, English three.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /triː/

Numeral

tri m (feminine trjå, neuter try or trju)

1. three; (pre-2012) alternative form of tre

   Trjå matskeider salt.

   Three tablespoons of salt.

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʲrʲi]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *trei (compare Welsh trwy), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- (“to pass through”); compare Sanskrit तिरस् (tiras), Latin trāns and Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷 (þairh).

Alternative forms

• tre, tré, trí

Preposition

tri (with the accusative; triggers lenition)

1. through

For quotations using this term, see Citations:tri.

Inflection

Inflection of tri

Person	Normal	Emphatic
1st person sing.	trium
2d person sing.	triut	triutsu
3d sing. masc./neut., dative
3d sing. masc./neut., accusative	triit	triitsom, trítsom
3d sing. fem., dative
3d sing. fem., accusative	tree
1st person pl.	triunn	triunni
2d person pl.	triib
3d person pl., dative
3d person pl., accusative	treu, treo

Forms combined with a definite article:

• tris(s)in (“through the m sg or f sg”)
• tris(s)a (“through the n sg”)
• trisna (“through the pl”)

Forms combined with a possessive determiner:

• trim, trem (“through my”)
• tria, trea (“through his/her/its/their”)

Forms combined with a relative pronoun:

• tresa (“through which”)

Related terms

• trá
• tremi-

 

Descendants

• Middle Irish: tre, tré, tri, trí
  • Irish: trí, tré, tré- (combining), fríd (Ulster), thrí (Galway), ⇒ fríd
  • Scottish Gaelic: tre
  • ⇒ Manx: trooid

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “tre”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2017) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, § 433, 856, pages 272–73, 533–34
• Pedersen, Holger (1913) Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, page 301

Etymology 2

Numeral

tri

1. Alternative spelling of trí

Old Javanese

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit त्रि (tri, “three”).

Numeral

tri

1. three

   Synonyms: tĕlu, tiga, traya, tri

Derived terms

• atri
• miṅtri
• piṅtri

 

• trailokya
• tribhuja
• tribhuwana
• tribhuwanamaṇḍala
• tribhuwanapati
• tribhuwanarājya
• tribhuwanawijaya
• tribhuwaneśwara
• tribhāga
• tribhāwa
• tribhūmi
• tribhūmyaṇḍa
• tridewī
• tridhātu
• trigaṇḍa
• triguṇa
• triguṇatattwa
• triguṇātmaka
• trijanma
• trijaṅgama
• trikaṭuka
• trikhala
• trikāla
• trikāya
• trikūṭa
• triloka
• trilokasaṅgha
• trilokawaraṇa
• trilokaśaraṇa
• trilokya
• trilābha
• trimala
• trinayana
• trinetra
• trināḍi
• tripakṣa
• triparārtha
• tripatha
• tripaṇa
• triporuṣa
• trirājya
• trirūpa
• trisamaya
• trisandhyā
• trisādhya
• triwali
• triwarga
• triwighna
• triwāra
• triyaśa
• triśikha
• triśirah
• tryakṣara
• tryantahkaraṇa
• trīṇi

 

Descendants

• > Javanese: ꦠꦿꦶ (tri) (inherited)

Further reading

• "tri" in P.J. Zoetmulder with the collaboration of S.O. Robson, Old Javanese-English Dictionary. 's-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1982.

Portuguese

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from French très.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɾi/

• Rhymes: -i

Adjective

tri

1. (Rio Grande do Sul) cool, nice, good, interesting
2. (Rio Grande do Sul) Clipping of trilegal

Adverb

tri

1. (Rio Grande do Sul) very

   Synonym: tro

See also

• tri-

Romagnol

Etymology

From Latin tres (“three”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tri/

Numeral

tri

1. three

Samoan Plantation Pidgin

Etymology 1

From English three.

Numeral

tri

1. three

Etymology 2

From English tree.

Noun

tri

1. tree

References

• Mosel, Ulrike (1980) Tolai and Tok Pisin: the influence of the substratum on the development of New Guinea Pidgin (Pacific Linguistics; Series B, no. 73)‎^[1], Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN

Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tri     Ordinal: treći     Adverbial: triput, triždi     Multiplier: trostruk, trojno     Collective: troje, trojica     Fractional: trećina

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *tri, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *tríjes, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /trîː/

• Audio (Serbia):

  (file)

Numeral

trȋ (Cyrillic spelling три)

1. three (3)

Usage notes

• As a vestige of the Proto-Slavic dual number, nouns following the numbers 2-4 are in genitive singular.
• In standard Serbo-Croatian, tri declines according to case, but this is not always done in speech.

Declension

Declension of tri

	singular
nominative	trȋ
genitive	trìjū
dative	trìma
accusative	trȋ
vocative	trȋ
locative	trìma
instrumental	trìma

Derived terms

• trodnevni

Sicilian

Sicilian cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : tri     Ordinal : terzu

Etymology

From Latin trēs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʈɽi/ (Stressed)
• IPA^(key): /ʈɽi/ (Unstressed)

Numeral

tri

1. three

Slovak

Slovak numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tri     Ordinal: tretí     Adverbial: tri razy     Multiplier: trojitý, trojnásobný     Collective: troje     Qualitative: trojaký

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *tri.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tri]

Numeral

tri

1. three (3)

Coordinate terms

Slovak cardinal numbers from 0 to 99

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	nula	jeden	dva	tri	štyri	päť	šesť	sedem	osem	deväť
1—	desať	jedenásť	dvanásť	trinásť	štrnásť	pätnásť	šestnásť	sedemnásť	osemnásť	devätnásť
2—	dvadsať	dvadsaťjeden	dvadsaťdva	dvadsaťtri	dvadsaťštyri	dvadsaťpäť	dvadsaťšesť	dvadsaťsedem	dvadsaťosem	dvadsaťdeväť
3—	tridsať	tridsaťjeden	tridsaťdva	tridsaťtri	tridsaťštyri	tridsaťpäť	tridsaťšesť	tridsaťsedem	tridsaťosem	tridsaťdeväť
4—	štyridsať	štyridsaťjeden	štyridsaťdva	štyridsaťtri	štyridsaťštyri	štyridsaťpäť	štyridsaťšesť	štyridsaťsedem	štyridsaťosem	štyridsaťdeväť
5—	päťdesiat	päťdesiatjeden	päťdesiatdva	päťdesiattri	päťdesiatštyri	päťdesiatpäť	päťdesiatšesť	päťdesiatsedem	päťdesiatosem	päťdesiatdeväť
6—	šesťdesiat	šesťdesiatjeden	šesťdesiatdva	šesťdesiattri	šesťdesiatštyri	šesťdesiatpäť	šesťdesiatšesť	šesťdesiatsedem	šesťdesiatosem	šesťdesiatdeväť
7—	sedemdesiat	sedemdesiatjeden	sedemdesiatdva	sedemdesiattri	sedemdesiatštyri	sedemdesiatpäť	sedemdesiatšesť	sedemdesiatsedem	sedemdesiatosem	sedemdesiatdeväť
8—	osemdesiat	osemdesiatjeden	osemdesiatdva	osemdesiattri	osemdesiatštyri	osemdesiatpäť	osemdesiatšesť	osemdesiatsedem	osemdesiatosem	osemdesiatdeväť
9—	deväťdesiat	deväťdesiatjeden	deväťdesiatdva	deväťdesiattri	deväťdesiatštyri	deväťdesiatpäť	deväťdesiatšesť	deväťdesiatsedem	deväťdesiatosem	deväťdesiatdeväť

Further reading

• “tri”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *tri, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *tríjes, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tríː/

Numeral

trȋ

1. three

Usage notes

This is the usual form used when counting or reciting numbers.

Spanish

Etymology

Clipping of tricolor

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɾi/ [ˈt̪ɾi]
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: tri

Noun

tri m (uncountable)

1. (soccer, preceded by "el") the Mexican national football team

   Synonym: tricolor

Noun

tri f (uncountable)

1. (soccer, preceded by "la") the Ecuador national football team

   Synonym: tricolor

Tok Pisin

Tok Pisin numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tri

Etymology

From English three.

Numeral

tri

1. three (3)

Usage notes

Used when counting; see also tripela.

Coordinate terms

Tok Pisin cardinal numbers from 1 to 99

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	—	wan	tu	tri	foa	faiv	sikis	seven	et	nain
1—	ten	eleven	twelv	tetin	fotin	fiftin	sikistin	seventin	etin	naintin
2—	twenti	tupela ten wan	tupela ten tu	tupela ten tri	tupela ten foa	tupela ten faiv	tupela ten sikis	tupela ten seven	tupela ten et	tupela ten nain
3—	teti	tripela ten wan	tripela ten tu	tripela ten tri	tripela ten foa	tripela ten faiv	tripela ten sikis	tripela ten seven	tripela ten et	tripela ten nain
4—	foti	fopela ten wan	fopela ten tu	fopela ten tri	fopela ten foa	fopela ten faiv	fopela ten sikis	fopela ten seven	fopela ten et	fopela ten nain
5—	fifti	faivpela ten wan	faivpela ten tu	faivpela ten tri	faivpela ten foa	faivpela ten faiv	faivpela ten sikis	faivpela ten seven	faivpela ten et	faivpela ten nain
6—	sikisti	sikispela ten wan	sikispela ten tu	sikispela ten tri	sikispela ten foa	sikispela ten faiv	sikispela ten sikis	sikispela ten seven	sikispela ten et	sikispela ten nain
7—	seventi	sevenpela ten wan	sevenpela ten tu	sevenpela ten tri	sevenpela ten foa	sevenpela ten faiv	sevenpela ten sikis	sevenpela ten seven	sevenpela ten et	sevenpela ten nain
8—	eti	etpela ten wan	etpela ten tu	etpela ten tri	etpela ten foa	etpela ten faiv	etpela ten sikis	etpela ten seven	etpela ten et	etpela ten nain
9—	nainti	nainpela ten wan	nainpela ten tu	nainpela ten tri	nainpela ten foa	nainpela ten faiv	nainpela ten sikis	nainpela ten seven	nainpela ten et	nainpela ten nain

Torres Strait Creole

Etymology 1

From English three.

Numeral

tri

1. three

Etymology 2

From English tree.

Noun

tri

1. tree

Venetan

Etymology

From Latin trēs. Compare Italian tre.

Numeral

tri m

1. three

Synonyms

• tre

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• trây

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕi˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʈɪj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʈɪj˧˧]

Verb

tri

1. to smear; to daub

See also

Derived terms

• tri trét

 

Welsh

Welsh numbers ^(edit)

	30[a], [b], [c]
[a], [b] ←  2	3	4  → [a], [b]
Cardinal (masculine): tri     Cardinal (feminine): tair     Ordinal (masculine): trydydd     Ordinal (feminine): trydedd     Ordinal abbreviation (masculine): 3ydd     Ordinal abbreviation (feminine): 3edd     Adverbial: teirgwaith     Multiplier: triphlyg
Welsh Wikipedia article on 3

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tri, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /triː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Numeral

tri m (feminine tair)

1. (cardinal number) three

Usage notes

Tri is used only before grammatically masculine nouns. It triggers the aspirate mutation in the written language, but this is heard only occasionally in speech.

Derived terms

• trisain (“triphthong”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
tri	dri	nhri	thri
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.