triple

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtrɪp.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French triple or directly borrowed from Latin triplus (“threefold”),^[2][3][4] from tri- (“three”) and -plus (“-fold”) (as in duplus, see double),^[5][2][6] which corresponds to Ancient Greek τριπλοῦς (triploûs).^[3][4][7] The verb is from Late Latin triplāre (“to triple”).^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Etymonline dates the adjective, threefold, to the late 12th century;^[2] the verb is first in John Barbour's The Bruce (1375), in Scots,^[5][6] and the noun, a triple sum or quantity, is from about 1425.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

Hoad dates the adjective in common use from the 16th century.^[3] A set of three, a triad, is from 1653,^[8] and triple time in music from 1597.^[8] In bell-ringing a triple is a peal on seven bells with the tenor behind (1798).^[8] The baseball sense, a three-base hit, is attested by 1880,^[2] and in horse racing the triple, a trifecta, is from 1972.^[8][9] Triple-decker is from 1940 of sandwiches and wedding cakes.^[2] English also has treble, an earlier borrowing of the same Latin word through Old French.^[7]

Timeline

• 1375 – to triple, in Barbour's The Bruce.^[5]
• c. 1425 – the noun, a triple amount.^[8][5]
• 1597 – triple time in music.^[8]
• 1653 – a set of three.^[8]
• 1880 – a three-base hit.^[2]
• 1940 – triple-decker.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Made up of three parts or members; threefold.
2. Three times as great or as many.
3. (music) Having three beats to the bar.

Noun

1. A number or amount three times as great as another.
2. A group of three; a triad.
3. (baseball) A three-base hit.

Verb

1. To make or become three times as great.

Word family

• tripletail
• tripleton
• triple-double
• triple-team
• triple-decker
• triple-header
• triplet

Related words

• duple
• treble
• triplicate
• triplex
• double
• tri-

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin