Three Meaning
/θɹiː/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
numA numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••).
numDescribing a set or group with three elements.
Sentence Examples
Excuse me; allow me to point out three errors in the above article.
I can't take it anymore! I haven't slept for three days!
There are only three cookies left.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She needed three pencils for her exam, so she took exactly ____ from the drawer.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
There are exactly ____ weeks left until the end of the semester, so we need to start studying for our exams today.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen."
— 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
"There is a soft-mat seat (which originally had a palm fiber underwebbing) supported by three curved transverse braces."
— 1995, Nancy Berliner, Sarah Handler, Friends of the House, →ISBN, page 79:
"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”?"
— 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:
"Now we continue zooming-in in three different directions depending on the number of ones."
— 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv, page 2:
"Why should she care? One…two…
Do we shoot on three?
Yes on three. Like one, two, three, shoot."
— 2011 October 18, Paul Dini, Paul Crocker, Sefton Hill, Batman: Arkham City, spoken by Joker thugs, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She needed three pencils for her exam, so she took exactly ____ from the drawer.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
There are exactly ____ weeks left until the end of the semester, so we need to start studying for our exams today.