tripod

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tripūs (“tripod”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} perhaps by way of Medieval Latin tripodium.^[7][3] Barnhart takes it as borrowed from French tripode and directly from Latin.^[8][9] The Latin word comes from Ancient Greek τρίπους (trípous, “three-footed; a three-legged stool or table”), a noun use of the adjective,^[2][3][6][9] formed from τρι- (tri-, “three”) and πούς (poús, “foot”),^[2][6][10] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”).^[3] Klein and Weekley compare trivet, and Klein also tripos.^[6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A three-footed stand or vessel: the MED's first record is an inventory of 1370–71 from Ripon, where the word stands among Latin entries,^[7] and Etymonline dates the three-legged vessel to the late 14th century.^[3] The OED's first record is from 1603, in Philemon Holland's translation of Plutarch's Moralia, for the seat of the priestess at Delphi;^[2][9] Merriam-Webster dates the sense of a vessel resting on three legs to the 15th century.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In early modern English the word belonged mostly to classical contexts: the three-legged cauldron of the ancient Greeks, often given as a prize, from about 1611 in Chapman's Iliad, and the tripod at Delphi on which the priestess of Apollo sat to give oracles, hence the oracle itself.^[2][10] Johnson (1755) defined it only as a seat with three feet, like the one the priestess of Apollo used.^[13] From 1656, in Blount's Glossographia, it was a stool, table or similar thing with three legs;^[2] since 1825 it has also meant any three-legged support, especially the hinged stand for a camera, compass or other instrument, which is now the main sense.^[2][10][14] The Delphic sense also gave a figurative use for a seat of oracular authority.^[12] Later technical uses include the medical tripod of life (1834) and, in anatomy and zoology, a bone or sponge spicule with three rays (1888).^[2] The adjective, three-legged, dates from 1720, in Pope's Iliad.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1370–71 – a three-footed stand or vessel, in a Ripon inventory.^[7]
• 1603 – the tripod at Delphi; the Delphic oracle.^[2][9]
• c. 1611 – a three-legged cauldron or vessel of the ancient Greeks.^[2]
• 1656 – a three-legged stool or table.^[2]
• 1720 – adjective, three-legged.^[2]
• 1825 – a three-legged stand for an instrument, later especially a camera.^[2]
• 1888 – a sponge spicule with three rays.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stand with three legs, usually folding and adjustable, used to hold a camera, telescope or other instrument steady: She set the camera on a tripod to photograph the stars.^[14][2][10]
2. A stool, table or other piece of furniture with three legs.^[14][2][12]
3. In ancient Greece, a pot or cauldron resting on three legs, often an ornamental one given as a prize or offering.^[12][2][10]
4. The three-legged seat of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi; hence the Delphic oracle, or any seat of oracular authority.^[12][2][10]

Adjective

1. Having or standing on three legs.^[12][2]

Word family

• tripodal
• tripodic

Related words

• foot
• trivet
• tripos

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins