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threefold

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Etymology and origin of the English word threefold

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Ælfric's Homilies
Inherited from
Old English þrifeald via Middle English

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈθriːfəʊld/[1]
  • US: /ˈθriːfoʊld/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English threfold,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English þrīfeald (“threefold, triple”), also þrȳfeald and þrēofeald,[5][6][2] formed from þrīe (“three”) and -feald (“-fold”);[2][4] the parts are the ancestors of three and -fold.[4][5] It is matched by Old Frisian thrífald, the obsolete Dutch drijvoud, Old High German drivalt and Old Norse þrífaldr.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Consisting of three in one, or thrice repeated: in Old English, in Ælfric's Homilies, the OED's first quotation.[5][6] Bosworth–Toller also quotes it as a gloss of Latin triplex and trinus, and in the statement that the soul was threefold.[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a thing made up of three parts or kinds came first, and in the 12th century the word also came to mean "three times as great", in the Ormulum about 1175.[5] The adverb developed in the same way: first "in a threefold manner" in Old English, and "three times as much" from about 1400.[5] Its older uses "in threes", "in three ways" and "into three parts" are obsolete or rare.[5] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as "thrice repeated; consisting of three", quoting "a threefold cord is not easily broken".[7] In East Yorkshire dialect a threefold was the buckbean, from its leaves, recorded in 1788.[5][8]

Timeline

  • Old English – adjective, consisting of three in one; triple.[5][6]
  • Old English – adverb, in a threefold manner, in the Rule of St Benet.[5][8]
  • c. 1175 – adjective, three times as great or numerous, in the Ormulum.[5][8]
  • c. 1400 – adverb, three times as much, in the Brut.[5][8]
  • 1788 – noun, in dialect, the buckbean.[5][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having three parts or aspects; triple: a threefold plan for the harbor.[2][9][10]
  2. Three times as great or as many: a threefold rise in rents.[2][9][10]

Adverb

  1. By three times; to three times the number or amount: Her savings grew threefold.[2][9][10]
  2. In a threefold manner; trebly.[3][5]

Noun

  1. (dialect) The buckbean.[5][8]

Word family

  • threefoldly
  • threefoldness

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Threefold.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/threefold. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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