triad

English

Etymology

From Latin triad-, stem of trias (“three, triad”), from Ancient Greek τριάς (trias); applied by British authorities to underground society in Hong Kong based on geometry of Chinese character.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɹaɪ.æd/

Noun

triad (plural triads)

1. A grouping of three.
2. (music) A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale.
3. (electronics) on a CRT display, a group of three neighbouring phosphor dots, coloured green, red, and blue.
4. A branch of a Chinese underground criminal society, mostly based in Hong Kong.

Synonyms

• (group of three): threesome, trine, trinity, trio, troika, triumvirate

Related terms

• triadic

Translations

grouping of three

• Finnish: kolmikko (fi)
• Galician: tríade (gl) f

• Norwegian: trio (no) m, triade (no) m

musical chord

• Finnish: kolmisointu (fi)
• German: Dreiklang (de) m

• Swedish: treklang (sv) c

underground society

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 三合會, 三合会, 黑社會, 黑社会

  Mandarin: 三合會 (cmn), 三合会 (cmn) (Sānhéhuì), 黑社會 (cmn), 黑社会 (cmn) (Hēishèhuì)

• Finnish: triadi (fi)
• French: triade (fr) f
• German: Triade (de) f

• Italian: triade (it) f
• Japanese: 三合会 (ja) (さんごうかい, Sangōka)
• Korean: 삼합회 (ko) (Samhaphoe)
• Russian: триада (ru) (triáda) f
• Swedish: triad (sv) c
• Vietnamese: Hội Tam Hoàng (vi)

See also

• monad
• dyad
• mafia
• tong
• yakuza
• Triad on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• drait