three

English

Wikipedia

English cardinal numbers

<  2	3	4  >
Cardinal : three     Ordinal : third     Adverbial : thrice     Multiplier : triple
English Wikipedia article on three

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English þrī, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /θɹiː/, X-SAMPA: /Tri:/
• (US) IPA: /θɹi/, X-SAMPA: /Tri/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Numeral

three

1. (cardinal) A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; This many dots (•••).
2. Describing a set or group with three components.

Related terms

• third, thrice, triple

Synonyms

• leash

Translations

cardinal number 3

• Abkhaz: хҧа (ab) (xṗa)
• Ainu: レ (re)
• Albanian: tre (sq) m, tri (sq) f
• Alutiiq: pingayun
• American Sign Language:
• Amharic: ሦስት (am) (sost) (numeral: ፫ (am))
• Arabic: ثلاثة (ar) (thalaatha(t)) (numeral: ٣ (ar))

  Egyptian: تلاتة (talaata)

  Moroccan Arabic: تْلاتة (tlata)

• Aragonese: tres (an)
• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܬܠܬܐ (tlātā’) m, ܬܠܬ (tlāt) f

  Hebrew: תלתא (tlātā’) m, תלת (tlāt) f

• Armenian: երեք (hy) (erek')
• Aromanian: trei (rup)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: tres (ast), trés (ast)
• Aymara: kimsa (ay)
• Azeri: üç (az)
• Banjarese: talu
• Bashkir: өс (ös)
• Basque: hiru (eu)
• Belarusian: тры (be) (try)
• Bengali: তিন (bn) (tin) (numeral: ৩ (bn))
• Breton: tri (br) m, teir (br) f
• Bulgarian: три (bg) (tri)
• Burmese: သုံး (my) (thon:) (numeral: ၃ (my))
• Buryat: гурбан (gurban)
• Catalan: tres (ca)
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴽⵕⴰⴹ (kṛaḍ)
• Chamicuro: kilko
• Chechen: кхоъ (qo’)
• Cherokee: ᏦᎢ (chr) (tsoi)
• Chichewa: tatu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 三 (sam1)

  Dungan: сан (san)

  Eastern Hokkien (Min Dong): 三 (sang)

  Mandarin: 三 (cmn) (sān) (numeral: 參 (cmn))

  Teochew: san1, sam1

  Wu: 三 (se)

• Chukchi: ӈыроӄ (ŋəroq)
• Cornish: tri (kw) m, teyr (kw) f
• Corsican: trè (co)
• Crimean Tatar: üç
• Czech: tři (cs)
• Dalmatian: tra
• Danish: tre (da)
• Dena'ina: tuq'i
• Dolgan: үс (üs)
• Dutch: drie (nl)
• Erzya: колмо (kolmo)
• Esperanto: tri (eo)
• Estonian: kolm (et)
• Faroese: tríggir (fo) m, tríggjar (fo) f, trý (fo) n
• Fijian: tolu (fj)
• Finnish: kolme (fi)
• French: trois (fr)
• Friulian: trê
• Ga: etɛ̃, etɛ (ga)
• Gagauz: üç
• Galician: tres (gl)
• Garífuna: ürüwa
• Georgian: სამი (ka) (sami)
• German: drei (de)
• Gilbertese: tenua
• Greek: τρεις (el) (treis) m and f, τρία (el) (tría) n
• Greenlandic: pingasut (kl)
• Guaraní: mbohapy (gn)
• Gujarati: ત્રગડો (gu) (tragaḍo) (numeral: ૩ (gu))
• Haitian Creole: twa
• Hawaiian: kolu, ʻekolu
• Hebrew: שָׁלוֹשׁ (he) (shalosh) f (used in counting), שְׁלוֹשָׁה (he) (shlosha) m
• Hindi: तीन (hi) (tīn) (numeral: ३ (hi))
• Hopi: pàayoʼ
• Hungarian: három (hu)
• Icelandic: þrír (is) m, þrjár (is) f, þrjú (is) n
• Ido: tri (io)
• Ilocano: tallo
• Indonesian: tiga (id)
• Ingush: кхоъ (qoʼ)
• Interlingua: tres (ia)
• Interlingue: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: trí (ga)

  Old Irish: trí

• Italian: tre (it)
• Itelmen: ч’оӄ (ç’oq)
• Japanese: 三 (ja) (さん, san; み, mi), 三つ (みっつ, mittsu), ３ (ja)
• Javanese: telu (jv)
• Jèrriais: trais
• Kalmyk: һурвн (ghurvn)
• Kannada: ಮೂರು (kn) (mūru): (numeral: ೩ (kn))
• Karachay-Balkar: юч (üç)
• Karelian: kolme
• Kashubian: trzë (csb)
• Kazakh: үш (kk) (üş)
• Khakas: ӱс (üs)
• Khmer: បី (km) (bei) (numeral: ៣)
• Komi: куйм (kujm)
• Korean: 셋 (ko) (set), 세 (ko) (se), 석 (ko) (seok); 삼 (ko) (sam) (三 (ko))
• Koryak: ӈыёӄ (ŋəjoq)
• Kumyk: уьч (üç)
• Kuna: pa
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: سێ (ku) (sê)

• Kyrgyz: үч (ky) (üç)
• Lao: ສາມ (lo) (saam) (numeral: ໓ (lo))
• Latgalian: treis pl
• Latin: trēs (la) m and f; tria (la) n
• Latvian: trīs (lv)
• Lithuanian: trys (lt) m, trys (lt) f
• Livonian: kuolm
• Lojban: ci (jbo)

• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: drij (Gronings), drèje (Gronings)

  German Low German: drei (nds-de), dree (nds-de)

• Luo: adek
• Luxembourgish: dräi (lb)
• Macedonian: три (mk) (tri)
• Madurese: telloʔ
• Malagasy: telo (mg)
• Malay:

  Rumi: tiga (ms), telu (ms), tri (ms)

  Jawi: تيݢ (ms), تلو (ms), تري (ms)

• Malayalam: മൂന്ന് (ml) (mūnn) (numeral: ൩ (ml))
• Maltese: tlieta (mt)
• Manchu: (ilan)
• Mansi: хурум (xūrum)
• Manx: three (gv), tree (gv)
• Maori: toru (mi)
• Marathi: तीन (mr) (tīn)
• Mari: кумыт (kumyt)
• Maricopa: xamok
• Marshallese: jilu
• Minangkabau: tigo
• Mirandese: trés
• Mongolian: гурав (mn) (gurav), ᠭᠤᠷᠪᠠᠨ (gurban) (numeral: ᠓)
• Montagnais: nishtᵘ
• Nahuatl: ēyi (nah), yēi (nah)
• Nama: ǃnona
• Nauruan: aiju (na)
• Navajo: tááʼ
• Nogai: уьш (üş)
• Northern Sami: golbma
• Northern Yukaghir: йалуонь (jaluoń)
• Norwegian: tre (no), tri (no)
• Novial: tri
• O'odham: vaik
• Occitan: tres
• Ojibwe: niswi
• Old Church Slavonic: триѥ (trije), трьѥ (trĭje), три (tri)
• Old English: þrie (ang), þreo (ang)
• Oriya: ତିନି (or) (tini) (numeral: ୩ (or))
• Ossetian: ӕртӕ (ærtæ)
• Persian: سه (fa) (se) (numeral: ۳ (fa)), سو (fa) (so) (dialectal)
• Pipil: yey
• Polish: trzy (pl) pl
• Portuguese: três (pt)
• Punjabi: ਤਿੰਨ (pa) (tiṅn) (numeral: ੩ (pa))
• Quechua: kinsa (qu)
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Rapa Nui: ka toru
• Rohingya: tin
• Romani: trin
• Romanian: trei (ro)
• Romansch: trais (rm)
• Russian: три (ru) (tri)
• Sanskrit: त्रि (sa) (tri), त्रयं (sa) (traya)
• Sardinian: tres (sc)
• Saterland Frisian: tjo
• Scottish Gaelic: trì (gd), triùir (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: три̑ (sh)

  Roman: trȋ (sh)

• Shor: ӱш (üş)
• Sichuan Yi: ꌕ (suo)
• Sicilian: tri (scn)
• Sikkimese: please add this translation if you can
• Sindhi: ٽي (sd) (ti)
• Sinhalese: තුන (si) (tuna)
• Slovak: tri (sk), traja (sk)
• Slovene: tríje (sl), (when counting) trí (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tśi

  Upper Sorbian: tři (hsb)

• Southern Altai: ӱч (üç)
• Spanish: tres (es)
• Sundanese: tilu (su)
• Swedish: tre (sv)
• Tachelhit: krad m, krat f
• Tagalog: tatlo (tl)
• Tajik: се (tg) (se)
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: سه (se)

• Tamil: மூன்று (ta) (mūṉṛu) (numeral: ௩ (ta)), மூன்று (ta) (muundru)
• Taos: póyuo
• Tatar:

  Cyrillic: өч (tt) (өç)

  Roman: öç (tt) (öç)

• Telugu: మూడు (te) (mūḍu) (numeral: ౩ (te))
• Thai: สาม (săam) (numeral: ๓ (th))
• Tibetan: གསུམ (bo) (gsum) (numeral: ༣ (bo))
• Tocharian A: tre
• Tocharian B: trai, trey
• Tok Pisin: tripela (tpi)
• Tupinambá: mosapyr
• Turkish: üç (tr)
• Turkmen: üç (tk)
• Tuvan: үш (üş)
• Tzutujil: oxi
• Ukrainian: три (uk) (try), троє (tróje) collective, трійко (tríjko) colloquial, трієчко (tríječko) colloquial diminutive
• Uyghur: ئۈچ (ug) (üch)
• Uzbek: uch (uz)
• Veps: koume
• Vietnamese: ba (vi)
• Votic: kõlmõd / кылмыд
• Võro: kolm
• Walloon: troes (wa)
• Welsh: tri (cy) m, tair (cy) f
• West Frisian: trije (fy)
• Western Apache: táági
• Yakut: үс (üs)
• Yiddish: דרײַ (yi) (dray)
• Zazaki: hirê
• Zuni: ha'i

set or group with three components

• French: trio (fr) m
• Latgalian: treji m, trejis f
• Lithuanian: trejeri (lt) m, trejerios (lt) f
• Macedonian: тројка (mk) (trójka) f
• Romanian: triplu (ro) m and n, triplă f

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тро́јка (sh) f

  Roman: trójka (sh) f

• Walloon: troejhinne (wa) f

See also

• Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

Noun

three (plural threes)

1. The digit/figure 3.
2. Anything measuring three units, as length.

   Put all the threes in a separate container.

3. A person who is three years old.

   All the threes will go in Mrs. Smith's class, while I'll take the fours and fives.

4. The playing card featuring three pips.

Translations

digit/figure 3

• Armenian: երեք (hy) (erek')
• Asturian: tres (ast) m
• Basque: hiru (eu)
• Catalan: tres (ca) m
• Danish: tre (da)
• Finnish: kolmonen (fi)
• French: trois (fr) m
• Galician: tres (gl) m
• German: Drei (de) f
• Hebrew: שלוש (he) (shalósh) f
• Hungarian: hármas (hu)
• Japanese: san (ja)
• Lithuanian: trejetas (lt) m
• Macedonian: тројка (mk) (trójka) f, тројка (mk) (trójka) f
• Polish: trójka (pl) f
• Portuguese: três (pt) m

• Romanian: trei (ro) m
• Russian: тройка (ru) (trójka) f
• Scottish Gaelic: trì (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тро́јка (sh) f

  Roman: trójka (sh) f

• Sindhi: ٽي
• Slovak: trojka (sk) f
• Slovene: trojka (sl) f
• Spanish: número tres m
• Swedish: trea (sv)
• Tamil: மூன்று (ta) (muundru)
• Tok Pisin: tri
• Ukrainian: трійка (uk) (tríjka) f
• Vietnamese: số ba

Derived terms

• threefold
• threepence
• threesome
• thruppence
• three-up

See also

• (playing cards) playing card; ace, deuce, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king, joker

Symbols of number three in various numeral systems

Amharic numerals: ፫ Arabic numerals: 3 Bengali numerals: ৩ Chinese numerals: 叄, 三 Eastern Arabic numerals: ٣ Gujarati numerals: ૩ Gurmukhi numerals: ੩ Hindi numerals: ३

Kannada numerals: ೩ Khmer numerals: ៣ Lao numerals: ໓ Limbu numerals: ᥉ Malayalam numerals: ൩ Mongolian numerals: ᠓ Myanmar numerals: ၃ Oriya numerals: ୩ Persian numerals: ۳ Roman numerals: III Tamil numerals: ௩ Telugu numerals: ౩ Thai numerals: ๓ Tibetan numerals: ༣

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: took · nothing · God · #164: three · put · once · new

Anagrams

• Ether, ether, Reeth, theer, there

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Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish trí, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /t̪riː/

Numeral

three

1. (cardinal) three