trivial

English

Etymology

From Latin triviālis (“appropriate to the street-corner, commonplace, vulgar”), from trivium (“place where three roads meet”). Compare trivium, trivia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈtɹɪ.vɪi.əl/ SAMPA: /"trI.Vi:.@l/
• (CaE) IPA: [ˈt(ʃ)ɹɪviˌ(ʊ)l]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

trivial (comparative more trivial, superlative most trivial)

1. Of little significance or value.
   • 1848, Thackeray, William Makepeace, Vanity Fair, Bantam Classics (1997), 16:

     "All which details, I have no doubt, Jones, who reads this book at his Club, will pronounce to be excessively foolish, trivial, twaddling, and ultra-sentimental."

2. Common, ordinary.
3. Concerned with or involving trivia.
4. (biology) Relating to or designating the name of a species; specific as opposed to generic.
5. (mathematics) Of, relating to, or being the simplest possible case.
6. (mathematics) Self-evident.
7. Pertaining to the trivium.
8. (philosophy) Indistinguishable in case of truth or falsity.

Derived terms

• trivia

Translations

of little significance or value

Chinese: Mandarin: 無價值 (zh), 无价值 (zh) (wú jiàzhí) Croatian: trivijalan (hr) Czech: bezvýznamný (cs) Estonian: tühine (et) Finnish: mitätön (fi), triviaali (fi) French: trivial (fr) Hungarian: jelentéktelen (hu) Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai), 些細な (ja) (sasai na), 些末の (ja) (samatsu no)

Latin: levis (la) m. Polish: trywialny (pl), błahy (pl) Portuguese: trivial (pt) m. and f. Russian: незначительный (ru) (n'eznačít'el'nyj), мелкий (ru) (m'élkij), ничтожный (ru) (ničtóžnyj) Scottish Gaelic: suarach (gd) Spanish: trivial (es) Swedish: trivial (sv), enkel (sv)

common, ordinary

Chinese: Mandarin: 瑣細 (zh), 琐细 (zh) (suǒxì), 無聊 (zh), 无聊 (zh) (wúliáo) Czech: triviální (cs) Estonian: argine (et), tavaline (et) Finnish: tavallinen (fi), yksinkertainen (fi) Hungarian: közönséges (hu), útszéli (hu) Japanese: ありふれた (ja) (arifureta)

Polish: trywialny (pl) m., trywialna (pl) f., trywialne (pl) n. Portuguese: trivial (pt) m. and f. Russian: тривиальный (ru) (triviál’nyj), банальный (ru) (banál'nyj), обычный (ru) (obýčnyj) Scottish Gaelic: cumanta (gd) Spanish: trivial (es) Swedish: trivial (sv), ordinär (sv), vanlig (sv)

concerned with or involving trivia

Finnish: tyhjänpäiväinen, turhanaikainen

Japanese: 蛇足の (ja) (dasoku no)

(biology) relating to, or designating a species

Czech: druhový (cs)

Japanese: 通称 (ja) (tsūshō)

(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case

Finnish: triviaali (fi)

Russian: тривиальный (triviál’nyj)

(mathematics) self-evident

Czech: triviální (cs) Finnish: triviaali (fi) Hungarian: nyilvánvaló (hu), magától értetődő (hu), triviális (hu) Icelandic: augljós (is) m.

Japanese: 自明な (ja) (jimē na) Russian: тривиальный (triviál’nyj) Swedish: trivial (sv), uppenbar (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: تافه (tāfi) Mandarin: 瑣碎, 琐碎 (suǒsuì) Dutch: onbeduidend French: trivial German: trivial

Italian: banale Korean: 사소한 (sasohan) Lithuanian: trivialus Portuguese: trivial

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA: /tʁi.vjal/
• Homophones: triviale, triviales

Adjective

trivial m. (f. triviale, m. plural triviaux, f. plural triviales)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)

Anagrams

• livrait
• vitrail

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German

Adjective

trivial (comparative [[{{{1}}}]], superlative am [[{{{2}}}]])

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)

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Spanish

Adjective

trivial m. and f. (plural triviales)

1. trivial