three

three

Translingual

Signal flag for the digit 3

Etymology

From English three.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtri][1]

Noun

three

1. (international standards) NATO& ICAO phonetic alphabet code for the digit 3.

   Synonym: terrathree (ITU/IMO)

References

1. Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status‎, 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, October 2001, retrieved 23 January 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

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English

English numbers ^(edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: three     Ordinal: third     Latinate ordinal: tertiary     Adverbial: three times, thrice     Multiplier: threefold     Latinate multiplier: triple     Distributive: triply     Collective: trio, threesome     Multiuse collective: triplet     Greek or Latinate collective: triad     Greek collective prefix: tri-     Latinate collective prefix: tri-     Fractional: third     Latinate fractional prefix: trient-     Elemental: triplet     Greek prefix: trito-     Number of musicians: trio, triplet     Number of years: triennium

Alternative forms

• thre, threy, thrie (all obsolete)

Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes

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 trey.

Cognate with German drei, Albanian tre, Armenian երեք (erekʿ), Latin trēs, Latvian trīs, Lithuanian trỹs, Greek τρεῖς (treῖs), 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]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: tree (with th-stopping), free (with th-fronting)

Numeral

three

1. A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••).
   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 6868219:

     Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.

   • 2003 April 7, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “A Spy is Born Part II”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 1, Teletoon, Marathon Media, spoken by Clover (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Andrea Taylor):

     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”?

   • 2011 October 18, Paul Dini; Paul Crocker; Sefton Hill, Batman: Arkham City, Rocksteady Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, spoken by Joker thugs:

     Why should she care? One…two…
     Do we shoot on three?
     Yes on three. Like one, two, three, shoot.

2. Describing a set or group with three elements.

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• third, thrice, triple

Translations

cardinal number 3

Aari: makkán Abaza: хпа (xpa) Abkhaz: хԥа (xpa), хҧа (xpa) (old spelling) Adyghe: щы (śə) Afrikaans: drie (af) Aghwan: 𐕀𐔼𐔱 (xib) Ainu: レ (re) Aiton: please add this translation if you can Akkadian: 𒁹𒁹𒁹 (šalāš) Aklanon: tatlo Albanian: tre (sq) m, tri (sq) f Alutiiq: pingayun American Sign Language: Amharic: ሦስት (am) (śost), ሶስት (sost) (numeral: ፫ (3)) Andi: лъобгу (lˢobgu) Arabic: ثَلَاثَة‎ (ar) (ṯalāṯa) (numeral: ٣‎ (3)) Egyptian: تلاتة‎ (talāta) Hijazi Arabic: ثلاثة‎ f (talāta, ṯalāṯa), تلاتة‎ f (talāta) Moroccan Arabic: تلاتة‎ (tlāta) Aragonese: tres Aramaic: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܠܵܬܵܐ‎ m (tlātā), ܬܠܵܬ‎ f (tlāt) Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תְּלָתָא‎ m (təlāṯā), תְּלַת‎ f (təlaṯ) Syriac: ܬܠܬܐ‎ m (təlāṯā), ܬܠܬ‎ f (təlāṯ) Western Neo-Aramaic: ܬܠܬܐ‎ m (ṯloṯa), ܐܬܠܬ‎ f (ʾeṯlaṯ) Archi: лъеб (lʰeb) Argobba: ሶአስተ (sost) Armenian: երեք (hy) (erekʿ) Aromanian: trei (roa-rup) Asháninka: mawa Assamese: তিনি (tini) (numeral: ৩) Asturian: tres (ast), trés (ast) Avar: лъабго (lˢabgo) Aymara: kimsa (ay) Azerbaijani: üç (az) Banjarese: talu Bashkir: өс (ös) Basque: hiru (eu) Bassa: tã Bay Miwok: teleeka Belarusian: тры (be) (try), (collective) тро́е (tróje), тро́йка f (trójka) Bengali: তিন (bn) (tin) (numeral: ৩) Bhojpuri: तीन (tīn) Bikol Central: tulo (bcl) Bislama: tri Brahui: musiŧ Breton: tri (br) m, teir (br) f Brunei Malay: tiga Budukh: шуб (šub), шубуд (šubud) Buginese: tellu Bulgarian: три (bg) (tri) Burmese: သုံး (my) (sum:) (numeral: ၃ (my) (3)) Buryat: гурбан (gurban) Cahuilla: páh Catalan: tres (ca) Cebuano: tulo Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴽⵕⴰⴹ (kṛaḍ) Central Dusun: tolu Central Sierra Miwok: toló·košu- Chakma: please add this translation if you can Cham: Eastern Cham: klau Western Cham: please add this translation if you can Chamicuro: kilko Chechen: кхоъ (qoʔ) Chepang: सुम्‌ (sum) Cherokee: ᏦᎢ (tsoi) Chichewa: tatu Chickasaw: tochchí'na Chinese: Cantonese: 三 (yue) (saam1) Dungan: сан (san) Eastern Hokkien (Min Dong): 三 (sang) Hakka: 三 (sāng) Mandarin: 三 (zh) (sān) (numeral: 參／参 (zh)) Min Nan: (Xiamen) 三 (zh-min-nan) (sā̃, sām), 三 (zh-min-nan) (sam1) (Teochew) Wu: 三 (se) Chinook Jargon: ɬun Chukchi: ӈыроӄ (ŋəroq) Chuukese: unungat, unuchö, unumön Chuvash: виҫӗ (viś̬ĕ), виҫҫӗ (viśśĕ) Classical Nahuatl: ēyi Cornish: tri m, teyr f Corsican: trè (co) Cowlitz: kaʔłiʔ Cree: nisto Crimean Tatar: üç Czech: tři (cs), (collective) troje (cs) Dalmatian: tra Danish: tre (da) Dena'ina: tuq'i Dhivehi: ތިން‎ (tin̊) Dinka: diäk Dolgan: үс (üs) Drung: vseum Dutch: drie (nl) Dzongkha: གསུམ (gsum) Elfdalian: tri Enga: tema Erzya: колмо (kolmo) Esperanto: tri (eo) Estonian: kolm (et) Even: илан (ilan) Evenki: илан (ilan) Ewe: etɔ̃ Extremaduran: tres Faroese: tríggir m, tríggjar f, trý (fo) n, trinnir m (distributive number) Fataluku: utue Fijian: tolu (fj) Finnish: kolme (fi) French: trois (fr) Friulian: trê Ga: etɛ̃, etɛ Gagauz: üç Galician: tres (gl) Garifuna: ürüwa Ge'ez: ሠለስቱ m (śälästu), ሠላስ f (śälas) (numeral: ፫ (3)) Georgian: სამი (ka) (sami) German: drei (de) Gilaki: سه‎ (se) Gilbertese: tenua Gothic: 𐌸𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (þreis) Greek: τρία (el) (tría), γ΄ (numeral) Ancient: τρεῖς (treîs), γ΄ (numeral) Greenlandic: pingasut (kl) Guaraní: mbohapy Gujarati: ત્રગડો (tragḍo) (numeral: ૩) Hadza: sámaka Haitian Creole: twa Hausa: ukù (ha) Hawaiian: kolu, ʻekolu Hebrew: שָׁלוֹשׁ‎ (he) f (shalosh) (used in counting), שְׁלוֹשָׁה‎ m (shlosha) Higaonon: tatulo Hiligaynon: tatlo Hindi: तीन (hi) (tīn) (numeral: ३ (hi) (3)), त्रि (hi) (tri) Hiri Motu: toi Hlai: fus Hopi: pàayoʼ Hungarian: három (hu) Hunsrik: drei Icelandic: þrír (is) m, þrjár (is) f, þrjú (is) n Icelandic Sign Language: 3@Side-PalmBackFingerUp Ido: tri (io) Igbo: atọ Ilocano: tallo Indonesian: tiga (id) Ingrian: kolt Ingush: кхоъ (qoʔ) Interlingua: tres (ia) Iranun: telu Irish: trí (ga) Old Irish: trí Isnag: tallo Istriot: trì Istro-Romanian: trei Italian: tre (it) Itelmen: ч’оӄ (č’oq) Japanese: 三 (ja) (san), 三つ (ja) (mittsu) Jarai: klâo Javanese: telu (jv) Kabardian: щы (śə) Kabuverdianu: tres Kalmyk: һурвн (ğurvn) Kannada: ಮೂರು (kn) (mūru): (numeral: ೩ (kn) (3)) Kanuri: yaske Kapampangan: atlu Karachay-Balkar: юч (üç) Karaim: üč Karakhanid: اُجْ‎ (üč) Karelian: kolme Kashubian: trzë Kaurna: marnkutyi Kazakh: үш (kk) (üş) Khakas: ӱс (üs) Khanty: хәԓум (xəḷum) (Kazym) Khmer: បី (km) (bəy) (numeral: ៣ (3)) Kokborok: tham Komi-Permyak: куим (kuim) Komi-Zyrian: куим (kuim) Korean: 셋 (ko) (set), 세 (ko) (se) (determiner), 석 (ko) (seok), 삼(三) (ko) (sam) Koryak: ӈыёӄ Kumyk: уьч (üç) Kuna: pa Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سێ‎ (ku) (sê) Northern Kurdish: sê (ku) Kyrgyz: үч (ky) (üç) Ladakhi: གསུམ (gsum) Lakota: yámni Lao: ສາມ (sām) (numeral: ໓ (3)) Latgalian: treis pl Latin: trēs (la) m or f, tria (la) n Latvian: trīs (lv) Lezgi: пуд (pud) Ligurian: tréi m, træ f Lithuanian: trys (lt) m, trys (lt) f Livonian: kuolm Lombard: tri m, tre f Louisiana Creole French: trò, trwa Low German: Dutch Low Saxon: drij (Gronings), drèje (Gronings) German Low German: drei (nds), dree (nds) Luo: adek Lushootseed: łixw Luxembourgish: dräi (lb) Lü: ᦉᦱᧄ (ṡaam) (numeral: ᧓) Macedonian: три (mk) (tri) Madurese: telloʔ Maguindanao: telu Makasar: tallu Malagasy: telo (mg) Malay: Jawi: تيݢ‎, تلو‎, تري‎ Rumi: tiga (ms), telu (ms), tri Malayalam: മൂന്നു (mūnnu), മൂന്ന് (ml) (mūnnŭ) (numeral: ൩) Maltese: tlieta (mt) Manchu: ᡳᠯᠠᠨ (ilan) Mangarevan: toru Mansaka: toro Mansi: хурум (hurum) Manx: three, tree Maori: toru (mi) Maranao: telo Marathi: तीन (tīn) Mari: Eastern Mari: кумыт (kumyt) Maricopa: xamok, hmuk Marshallese: jilu Mauritian Creole: trwa Mazanderani: سه‎ (se) Megleno-Romanian: trei Middle English: thre Minangkabau: tigo Mirandese: trés Mizo: pa-thum Mongolian: гурав (mn) (gurav), ᠭᠤᠷᠪᠠᠨ (ɣurban) (numeral: ᠓) Montagnais: nishtᵘ Motu: toi Muong: pà Mòcheno: drai Nama: ǃnona Nauruan: aiju Navajo: tááʼ Negidal: елан, илан Nepali: तीन (ne) (tīn) Ngazidja Comorian: -raru Niuean: tolu Nivkh: тяӄр̌ (țaqř) Nogai: уьш (üş) Norman: trais North Frisian: Föhr-Amrum: trii Helgoland: tree Mooring: tra m, trii f or n Sylt: trii Northern Ohlone: kaphan Northern Yukaghir: йалуонь (jaluoņ) Norwegian: tre (no), tri (no) O'odham: vaik Occitan: tres (oc) Ojibwe: niswi Okinawan: 三 (san), 三ち (mīchi) Old Church Slavonic: триѥ (trije), трьѥ (trĭje), три (tri) (numeral: г҃) Old English: þrī Old Frisian: thrē, thriā, thriū Old Javanese: tĕlu, tiga Old Turkic: 𐰇𐰲‎ (üč /üč/) Oriya: ତିନି (or) (tini) (numeral: ୩ (3)) Oromo: sadii Oscan: 𐌕𐌓𐌝𐌔 (trís) Ossetian: ӕртӕ (ærtæ) Ottoman Turkish: اوچ‎ (üç) Papiamentu: tres Pashto: درې‎ (ps) (dre) Pennsylvania German: drei Persian: سه‎ (fa) (se), سو‎ (fa) (so) (dialectal), (numeral: ۳‎) Piedmontese: tre Pijin: tri Pipil: yey Polish: trzy (pl) pl, (collective) troje (pl), trójka (pl) f Portuguese: três (pt) Proto-Norse: ᚦᚱᛁᛃᛟᛉ f pl (þrijoʀ) Punjabi: ਤਿੰਨ (tinn) (numeral: ੩ (3)) Purepecha: tanimu Quechua: kimsa (qu), kinsa Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can Rapa Nui: ka toru Rarotongan: toru Rawang: shø̀m Rohingya: tin Romagnol: tri m Romani: trin Kalo Finnish Romani: triin Romanian: trei (ro) Romansch: trais Russian: три (ru) (tri), тро́е (ru) (tróje) (collective), тро́йка (ru) f (trójka) Rusyn: три (try) S'gaw Karen: သၢ (thuh) Saho: adox Sami: Inari: kulmâ Northern: golbma Skolt: koumm Southern: golme Samoan: tolu (sm) Sanskrit: त्रि (sa) (tri), त्रयं (trayaṃ) Santali: ᱯᱮ (pe) Sarcee: táyk'í Sardinian: tres Saterland Frisian: tjo Scottish Gaelic: trì, triùir m Semai: tige Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: три̑ Roman: trȋ Shan: သၢမ် (shn) (sǎam) (numeral: ႓) Sherpa: གསུམ (gsum) Shor: ӱш (üş) Sichuan Yi: ꌕ (suo) Sicilian: tri (scn) Sidamo: sase Sikkimese: སུམ (sum) Sindhi: ٽي‎ (sd) (ti) Sinhalese: තුන (si) (tuna) Slovak: tri (sk), traja Slovene: tríje, (when counting) trí (sl) Slovincian: třȧ̃ Somali: saddex (so) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: tśi Upper Sorbian: třo m, tři f or n Southern Altai: ӱч (üč) Southern Ohlone: capjan Spanish: tres (es) Sumerian: 𒁹𒁹𒁹 (eš5) Sundanese: tilu (su) Swahili: tatu (sw) Swazi: tsatfu Swedish: tre (sv) Sylheti: ꠔꠤꠘ (tin) Tabasaran: шубуб (šubub) Tagalog: tatlo (tl) Tahitian: toru Tai Dam: ꪎꪱꪣ Tai Nüa: ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (sáam) Tajik: се (tg) (se) Talysh: سه‎ (se) (Asalemi) Tamil: மூன்று (ta) (mūṉṟu) (numeral: ௩) Tangut: 𘕕 (/*sọ¹/) Taos: póyuo Tarantino: tréde Tashelhit: krad m, krat f Tatar: өч (tt) (öç) Tausug: tū Tedim Chin: thum Telugu: మూడు (te) (mūḍu) (numeral: ౩ (te) (3)) Ternate: raange Tetum: tolu Thai: สาม (th) (sǎam) (numeral: ๓ (th) (3)) Tibetan: གསུམ (gsum) (numeral: ༣ (3)) Tidore: raange Tigre: ሰለስ (säläs) (numeral: ፫ (3)) Tigrinya: ሰለስተ (sälästä) (numeral: ፫ (3)) Tlingit: nás’k, nás’gináx̱ Toba Batak: tolu Tocharian A: tre Tocharian B: trai, trey Tok Pisin: tripela Tupinambá: mosapyr Turkish: üç (tr) Turkmen: üç (tk) Tuvaluan: tolu Tuvan: үш (üş) Tz'utujil: oxi Udi: хиб (χib) Udmurt: куинь (kuinʹ) Ukrainian: три (uk) (try), (collective) тро́є (tróje), трі́йко (tríjko) colloquial, трі́єчко (tríječko) colloquial diminutive, трі́йка (uk) f (tríjka) Umbrian: 𐌕𐌓𐌉𐌚 (trif) Unami: naxa Urdu: تین‎ m (tīn) Uyghur: ئۈچ‎ (ug) (üch) Uzbek: uch (uz) Venetian: tre (vec), tri Veps: koume Vietnamese: ba (vi) Vilamovian: draj Volapük: kil (vo) Votic: kõlmõd Võro: kolm Wakhi: tru Walloon: troes (wa) Waray-Waray: bungto Welsh: tri (cy) m, tair (cy) f West Frisian: trije (fy) Western Apache: táági, tāāgi Western Bukidnon Manobo: tetelu White Hmong: peb Winnebago: taanį Wiradhuri: Bula Ngumbaay Wolof: ñett Xhosa: thathu Yagara: burla ganar Yagnobi: тирай (tiray) Yakan: tellu Yakut: үс (üs) Yao: tatu Yiddish: דרײַ‎ (dray) Yoruba: ẹ̀ta Yucatec Maya: óox Yup'ik: pingayun Yámana: matan Zaghawa: we Zazaki: hirê Zealandic: drie, drieë (in counting) Zhuang: sam (Sawndip 三) Zou: thum Zulu: thathu Zuni: ha'i

describing set or group with three components

Bashkir: өсәү (ösäw) Catalan: trio (ca) m Dutch: trits (nl) c French: trio (fr) m Italian: terna (it) f, trio (it) m Latgalian: treji m, trejis f Lithuanian: trejeri (lt) m, trejerios f Macedonian: тројка f (trojka) Polish: trójka (pl) f Romanian: triplu (ro) m or n, triplă f Russian: тро́йка (ru) f (trójka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: тро́јка f Roman: trójka (sh) f Spanish: trío (es) m 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.
5. Three o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three.

6. (basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.

Derived terms

• Three Bridges
• Three Cocks
• threefold
• Three Oaks
• threepence
• three-phase
• Three Rivers
• threesome
• three stops short of Dagenham
• three togethers
• three-up
• three-way
• three-wheel
• three-wheeler
• thruppence

 

Translations

digit/figure 3

Amharic: ሶስት (sost), ሦስት (am) (śost) Armenian: երեք (hy) (erekʿ) Asturian: tres (ast) m Basque: hiru (eu) Belarusian: тро́йка f (trójka) Bikol Central: tulo (bcl) Catalan: tres (ca) m Cebuano: tulo Danish: tre (da) Dutch: drie (nl) f Finnish: kolmonen (fi) French: trois (fr) m Galician: tres (gl) m German: Drei (de) f Alemannic German: drüü Hebrew: שלוש‎ (he) f (shalósh) Hindi: तीन (hi) m (tīn) Hungarian: hármas (hu) Ilocano: tallo Italian: tre (it) Japanese: san (ja) Latin: tribus (la) Lithuanian: trejetas (lt) m Macedonian: тројка f (trojka) Pennsylvania German: drei Polish: trójka (pl) f Portuguese: três (pt) m Romanian: trei (ro) m Russian: тро́йка (ru) f (trójka) Scottish Gaelic: trì Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: тро́јка f Roman: trójka (sh) f Sindhi: ٽي‎ (sd) Slovak: trojka (sk) f Slovene: trojka f Spanish: tres (es) m Swedish: trea (sv) Tagalog: tatlo (tl) Tamil: மூன்று (ta) (mūṉṟu) Tok Pisin: tri Ukrainian: трі́йка (uk) f (tríjka) Vietnamese: số ba

anything measuring three units

Finnish: kolmonen (fi) Polish: trójka (pl) f

person who is three years old

Finnish: kolmivuotias; kolmonen (fi) (colloquial) Polish: trzylatek (pl) m, trzylatka (pl) f Swedish: treåring (sv) c

playing card

Finnish: kolmonen (fi) Polish: trójka (pl) f Swedish: trea (sv) c

basketball: abbreviation of three-pointer

Finnish: kolmonen (fi)

See also

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
ace	deuce, two	three	four	five	six	seven
eight	nine	ten	jack, knave	queen	king	joker

Symbols of number three in various numeral systems

• Amharic numerals: ፫
• Arabic numerals: 3
• Assyro-Babylonian numerals: 𒁹𒁹𒁹
• 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

Anagrams

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

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Manx

Numeral

three

1. Alternative spelling of tree.

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

Numeral

cardinal number

3	Previous:	twa
	Next:	fower

three

1. three

Related terms

• threty