trier

See also: Trier

English

Etymology

From Middle English triour, from Anglo-Norman triour and Middle English trien (equivalent to try +‎ -er).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaɪə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Noun

trier (plural triers)

1. One who tries; one who makes experiments or examines anything by a test or standard.
   • 1663, Robert Boyle, “Essay V. Proposing Some Particulars wherein Natural Philosophy may be Useful to the Therapeutical Part of Physick.”, in Some Considerations Touching the Vsefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall printer to the University, for Ric[hard] Davis, →OCLC, part II, section I (Of It’s Usefulness to Physick), chapter III, page 132:

     […] I had once brought me a certain Earth, by a Gentleman that digg'd it up in this, or ſome neighboring Country, vvhich, though it ſeem'd but a Mineral Earth, did really afford, to a very expert tryer of Metals of my acquaintance, a not deſpicable proportion of Gold.

2. An instrument used for sampling something.
   • 2009, Stephanie Clark, Michael Costello, Floyd Bodyfelt, The Sensory Evaluation of Dairy Products, page 145:

     The judge should grasp the butter trier firmly in hand and insert the sampling device as near as possible to the center of the butter sample.

3. One who tries judicially.
4. (law) A person appointed by law to try challenges of jurors; a trior.
5. (obsolete) That which tries or approves; a test.
   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Nay, mother, / Where is your ancient courage? you were us'd / To say, extremity was the trier of spirits

Alternative forms

• tryer

Derived terms

• cheese trier
• trier of fact

References

• “trier”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Riter, Terri

French

Etymology

From Middle French trier, from Old French trier (“to choose, pick out or separate from others, sift, cull”), of uncertain origin.

1. Widely assumed to be derived from Late Latin trītāre (“to grind”), from Latin trītus, the past participle of terō, terere, with the semantic shift seemingly originating from the Latin set phrase Latin granum terere (“to beat the corn from the chaff”), which can also be found in modern French as trier le grain. The semantic shift would be proved by the Italian cognate tritare (“to grind”), which also features “to sort” as an archaic sense. The cognates Occitan triar (“to pick out, choose from among others”) and Catalan triar (“to pick, choose”), who cannot reflect trītāre (which would have yielded *tridar) must then be considered borrowings from French.
2. Alternatively, from a Gallo-Romance hypothetical *trīō, trīāre, which would make Occitan triar and Catalan triar inherited cognates instead of borrowings. The archaic sense of Italian tritare whould thus be due to influence of the French word. Ultimately could be an outcome of a metathetic alteration Vulgar Latin *tīrāre (“to pull”), undergoing a pretty straightforward semantical shift. In this case the word would be doublet of tirer (“to pull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁi.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

trier

1. to sort, to sort out

   Trier le tas de lettres.

   Sort (out) the pile of letters.

2. to grade; to calibrate

Conjugation

Conjugation of trier (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	trier
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	triant /tʁi.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		trié /tʁi.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	trie /tʁi/	tries /tʁi/	trie /tʁi/	trions /tʁi.jɔ̃/	triez /tʁi.je/	trient /tʁi/
	imperfect	triais /tʁi.jɛ/	triais /tʁi.jɛ/	triait /tʁi.jɛ/	triions /tʁi.jɔ̃/	triiez /tʁi.je/	triaient /tʁi.jɛ/
	past historic2	triai /tʁi.je/	trias /tʁi.ja/	tria /tʁi.ja/	triâmes /tʁi.jam/	triâtes /tʁi.jat/	trièrent /tʁi.jɛʁ/
	future	trierai /tʁi.ʁe/	trieras /tʁi.ʁa/	triera /tʁi.ʁa/	trierons /tʁi.ʁɔ̃/	trierez /tʁi.ʁe/	trieront /tʁi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	trierais /tʁi.ʁɛ/	trierais /tʁi.ʁɛ/	trierait /tʁi.ʁɛ/	trierions /tʁi.ʁjɔ̃/	trieriez /tʁi.ʁje/	trieraient /tʁi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	trie /tʁi/	tries /tʁi/	trie /tʁi/	triions /tʁi.jɔ̃/	triiez /tʁi.je/	trient /tʁi/
	imperfect2	triasse /tʁi.jas/	triasses /tʁi.jas/	triât /tʁi.ja/	triassions /tʁi.ja.sjɔ̃/	triassiez /tʁi.ja.sje/	triassent /tʁi.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	trie /tʁi/	—	trions /tʁi.jɔ̃/	triez /tʁi.je/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• tri
• trier sur le volet (“to handpick, to carefully select”)
• triage

Further reading

• “trier”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• tirer

Old French

Etymology

Disputed; see English try.

Verb

trier

1. to choose; to select
2. to sort
3. to find
4. to verify; to make sure of
5. (law) to try (in court)
6. to pull

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of trier (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		trier			avoir trïé
gerund		en triant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		triant
past participle		trïé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	tri	trïes	trïe	trions	trïez	trïent
	imperfect	trioie, trïeie, trioe, trïeve	trioies, trïeies, trioes, trïeves	trioit, trïeit, triot, trïeve	triiiens, triiens	triiiez, triiez	trioient, trïeient, trioent, trïevent
	preterite	triai	trias	tria	triames	triastes	trïerent
	future	trïerai	trïeras	trïera	trïerons	trïeroiz, trïereiz, trïerez	trïeront
	conditional	trïeroie, trïereie	trïeroies, trïereies	trïeroit, trïereit	trïeriiens, trïeriens	trïeriiez, trïeriez	trïeroient, trïereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	tri	tris	trit	trions	trïez	trïent
	imperfect	triasse	triasses	triast	triissons, triissiens	triissoiz, triissez, triissiez	triassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	trïe	—	trions	trïez	—

Descendants

• → English: try
• French: trier

References

• trier on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (trier)