three

English Online Dictionary. What means three‎? What does three mean?

Translingual

Alternative forms

• Three, THREE

Etymology

Borrowed from English three.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtri], like tree

Noun

three

1. (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 3.

   Synonym: terrathree (ITU/IMO)

References

English

Alternative forms

• thre, threy, thrie (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English thre, threo, thrie, thri, from Old English þrī, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Doublet of tres and trey.

Cognate with German drei, Albanian tre, Armenian երեք (erekʻ), Latin trēs, Latvian trīs, Lithuanian trỹs, Greek τρεῖς (treîs), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thrē IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː], [θɾ̪̊ɪi], [θɹ̥ɪi]
• (UK, th-fronting) enPR: frē IPA^(key): /fɹiː/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː], [t̪ɾ̪̊iː]
• (General American) enPR: thrē IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊i], [θɹ̥i], [θɹi]
• Homophones: tree (th-stopping); free (th-fronting)
• Rhymes: -iː

Numeral

three

1. 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 elements.

Synonyms

• (numerical value): leash, tether (dialectal)

Related terms

• third, thrice, triple

Translations

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.

3. A person who is three years old.

4. The playing card featuring three pips.
5. Three o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
6. (basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

• Ehret, Ether, Reeth, ether, rethe, theer, there

Manx

Numeral

three

1. Alternative spelling of tree.

Scots

Alternative forms

• (South Scots) threi, shrei, hrei

Etymology

From Middle English thre, from Old English þriē, þrī, þreō, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θriː/
• (Southern Scots) IPA^(key): /θrəi/
• (Shetland) IPA^(key): /triː/

Numeral

three

1. three

References

• “three, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
• “three, num.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.