ternary
English
Etymology
From Late Latin ternarius (“consisting of three things”), from terni (“three each”).
Adjective
ternary (not comparable)
- Made up of three things; treble, triadic, triple, triplex.
- Arranged in groups of three.
- (arithmetic) To the base three.
- (Can we date this quote?), Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming
- Perhaps the prettiest number system of all […] is the balanced ternary notation.
- (Can we date this quote?), Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming
- (arithmetic) Having three variables.
- (chemistry) Containing, or consisting of, three different parts, as elements, atoms, groups, or radicals, which are regarded as having different functions or relations in the molecule.
- Sodic hydroxide, NaOH, is a ternary compound.
Synonyms
- (made up of three things): tern, trinary, trine; see also Thesaurus:triple
- (to the base three): trinary
Derived terms
- ternary alloy
- ternary code
- ternary complex
- ternary compound
- ternary computer
- ternary diagram
- ternary expansion
- ternary form
- ternary Golay code
- ternary Golay conjecture
- ternary incremental representation
- ternary logic
- ternary name
- ternary notation
- ternary numeral system
- ternary operation
- ternary operator
- ternary plot
- ternary pulse code modulation
- ternary quantic
- ternary search
- ternary search tree
- ternary signal
- ternary system
- ternary tree
Translations
Made up of three things
Arranged in group of three
|
Mathematics: To the base three
|
Mathematics: Having three variables
|
- Czech: (please verify) ternární
- French: (please verify) ternaire (fr)
- German: (please verify) ternär (de)
- (deprecated template usage)
{{trans-mid}}
- Icelandic: (please verify) þríunda-, þrígildur
- Italian: (please verify) ternario (it)
See also
Noun
ternary (plural ternaries)
- A group of three things; a trio, threesome or tierce.
- (obsolete) The Holy Trinity.
- 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface:
- And albeit these thynges be waighty and truthes of great importance, yet (by the infinite goodnes of the Almighty Ternarie,) Artificiall Methods and easy wayes are made, by which the zelous Philosopher, may wyn nere this Riuerish Ida, this Mountayne of Contemplation […].
- 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface:
Synonyms
- (a group of three things): See Thesaurus:trio