Etymologically
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trey

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English treye, also treis,[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French treis, also trei,[5][6][4][7] now French trois.[6][7][4] Klein explains trei as the nominative and treis as the oblique case, which gave the French form for both;[4] Etymonline and Barnhart instead derive treie from Latin tria, the neuter of trēs (“three”),[6][8][2] and most dictionaries take the French word from trēs itself.[5][7][9][10] Merriam-Webster sees both, treye from tria and treis from trēs.[3] The Latin numeral comes from Proto-Indo-European *trei- (“three”), the root of three,[2][6] and is related to Ancient Greek τρεῖς (treîs).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The side of a die with three spots, or a throw that turns it up: about 1386, in Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale,[5][8] where a gambler says "Seven is my chaunce, and thyn is cink and treye".[11]

Semantic evolution

As a gaming number the word goes with ace, deuce, cinque and sice.[6] From 1390, in Gower, to 1556 it was used in the proverbial phrase ere you can say trey-ace, in no time.[5] The card sense, the three of any suit, is recorded from 1680, in Cotton's Compleat Gamester;[5] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "a three at cards", quoting Love's Labour's Lost.[12] In slang it came to mean three of anything, a set of three, a threepenny piece, and in the United States a three-dollar packet of a narcotic;[5][10] the New Partridge and the OED of 1989 date this to 1859,[13][14] the current OED to 1887.[5][6] Trey was also the word for three in the Polari way of counting.[13] Merriam-Webster records it in basketball for a shot worth three points.[3] In dialect, spelt tray or trey, it meant three in card-playing, and in Gloucestershire the third branch of a stag's antler.[15]

Timeline

  • c. 1386 – the three at dice, in Chaucer.[5][8]
  • 1390 – in the phrase ere you can say trey-ace (obsolete by 1556).[5]
  • 1680 – the three of a suit at cards.[5]
  • 1859 – slang, three of anything, by the older OED's dating.[13][14]
  • 1887 – the same slang sense, by the current OED's dating.[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A playing card with three pips; the three of a suit.[3][9][5]
  2. The side of a die or domino with three spots, or a throw of three at dice.[3][9][5]
  3. (basketball) A shot that counts for three points.[3]
  4. (slang) Three of anything; a set of three.[5][10][13]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c d Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  14. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)