three

Translingual

Signal flag for the digit 3

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *tréyes
Proto-Germanic *þrīz
Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ
Old English þrī
Middle English thre
English threebor.
Translingual three

    Borrowed from English three. Doublet of drei.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    three

    1. (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 3.
      Synonym: terrathree (ITU/IMO)
    ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codesedit
    ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codesedit

    References

    1. ^ Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status‎[1], 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, October 2001, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

    English

    English numbers (edit)
    30
     ←  2 3 4  → 
        Cardinal: three
        Ordinal: third
        Abbreviated ordinal: 3rd
        Latinate ordinal: tertiary
        Reverse order ordinal: third last, third to last, third from last, last but two
        Latinate reverse order ordinal: antepenultimate
        Adverbial: three times, thrice
        Multiplier: threefold
        Latinate multiplier: triple
        Distributive: triply
        Germanic collective: trio, threesome
        Collective of n parts: triplet
        Greek or Latinate collective: triad
        Greek collective prefix: tri-
        Latinate collective prefix: tri-
        Fractional: third
        Elemental: triplet
        Greek prefix: trito-
        Number of musicians: trio, triplet
        Number of years: triennium
        Quantile: tercile, tertile

    Alternative forms

    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 (treís), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.

      Pronunciation

      Numeral

      three

      2. A numerical value equal to 3; the number following two and preceding four.
        • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
          Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.
        • 1995, Nancy Berliner, Sarah Handler, Friends of the House‎[2], →ISBN, page 79:
          There is a soft-mat seat (which originally had a palm fiber underwebbing) supported by three curved transverse braces.
        • 2003 April 7, Michelle Lamoreaux, Robert Lamoreaux, “A Spy is Born Part II”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Clover (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Andrea Taylor), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:
          Okay, on three, we open the door and jump on the rope. One, two…
          Wait, wait! Do we go on three? Or do we go on “go”?
          Three! Who said anything about “go”?
        • 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv‎[3], page 2‎[4]:
          Now we continue zooming-in in three different directions depending on the number of ones.
        • 2011 October 18, Paul Dini, Paul Crocker, Sefton Hill, Batman: Arkham City, spoken by Joker thugs, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:
          Why should she care? One…two…
          Do we shoot on three?
          Yes on three. Like one, two, three, shoot.
        • 2021 September 15, Hannah Ryan, “RuPaul has a new namesake – and it’s a fabulous, rainbow-colored fly”, in CNN‎[5], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 8 February 2026:
          The beetles are named Binburrum articuno, Binburrum moltres and Binburrum zapdos after three rare Pokémon: Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos.
      3. Describing a set or group with three elements.

      Synonyms

      Translations

      See three/translations § Numeral.

      See also

      • Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

      Noun

      three (plural threes)

      1. The digit/figure 3.
        • 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv‎[6], page 1‎[7]:
          In our example, 1210 has 1 zero, 2 ones, 1 two and 0 threes.
      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.
      5. Three o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
      6. (basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.

      Derived terms

      Translations

      See also

      Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
      ace deuce, two three, trey four, cater five, cinque six seven
      eight nine ten jack, knave queen king joker
      Symbols of number three in various numeral systems

      Anagrams

      Manx

      Numeral

      three

      1. alternative spelling of tree

      Scots

      Scots numbers (edit)
       ←  2 3 4  → 
          Cardinal: three
          Ordinal: third

      Alternative forms

      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

      Numeral

      three

      1. three

      References

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