Triad Meaning
/ˈtɹaɪ.æd/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA grouping of three.
nounA grouping of three., A romantic or sexual relationship between three individuals; a throuple.
Sentence Examples
Tom has the dark triad of personality traits.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The three friends decided to form a ____ to work together on the project.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In music, a ____ is a set of three notes that are played together to form a basic and harmonious chord today.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *tréyes From Latin triad-, stem of trias (“three, triad”), from Ancient Greek τριάς (triás). By surface analysis, tri- + -ad. Sense 3 (“branch of a Chinese underground criminal society”) is due to the word being applied by the British authorities to underground society in Hong Kong based on the geometry of the Chinese character, derived from a name used by some of those societies, 三合會 /三合会 (sānhéhuì, “Three Harmonies Society”), referring to the union between heaven, earth, and humanity.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Later artworks showed many animals and gods, some of which were clearly identified with heavenly body. They often included the symbolic triad of Sun, Moon, and Venus."
— 1998, John H. Roger, “Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions”, in Journal of the British Astronomy Association, volume 108, number 1, page 10, column 2:
"There are, says the Irish triad, 'three fewnesses that are better than plenty: a fewness of fine words; a fewness of cows on grass; a fewness of good friends around good ale'. As an Ulsterman I would agree."
— 2000, David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, page 625:
"In his general deportment he was pompous and important, affecting a species of florid elocution, which often became ridiculous from his misarranging the triads and quaternions with which he loaded his sentences."
— 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter 13, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
"The point — and the symbolism — was that so long as the informer kept his mouth shut he was alive. Harry had seen the result of zjuk carried out by the Tapei Triad on a poor jerk they found in a back street of Tan-shui. They had used broad nail heads that didn’t make such big holes on their way in. When the paramedics came and pulled the brick off the dead man, the face came with it."
— 2012 [2011], Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett, Gjenferd [Phantom] (Fiction), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 99:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The three friends decided to form a ____ to work together on the project.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In music, a ____ is a set of three notes that are played together to form a basic and harmonious chord today.