three

English

English numbers (edit)

	30
←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: three     Ordinal: third     Adverbial: thrice     Multiplier: triple, threefold

Alternative forms

• thre, threy, thrie (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English thre, threo, thrie, thri, from Old English þrēo, þrīe, þrī, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thrē IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː~θɾ̪̊ɪi]
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː~t̪ɾ̪̊iː]
• (General American) enPR: thrē IPA^(key): /θɹi/
• (th-fronting accents) enPR: frē IPA^(key): /fɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Numeral

three

1. (cardinal) A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••).
   • 1912, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, Chapter 8

     Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.

   • 2003 April 7, Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Andrea Taylor as Clover, “A Spy is Born Part II”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 1, written by Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, Teletoon, Marathon Media:

     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”?

   • 2011 October 18, Batman: Arkham City, written by Paul Dini; Paul Crocker; Sefton Hill, Rocksteady Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment:

     Why should she care? One…two…
     Do we shoot on three?
     Yes on three. Like one, two, three, shoot.

2. Describing a set or group with three elements.

Synonyms

• (numerical value): leash, tether (dialectal)

Related terms

• third, thrice, triple

Translations

cardinal number 3

• Aari: makkán
• Abaza: хпа (xpā)
• Abkhaz: хԥа (xpā), хҧа (xpā) (old spelling)
• Afrikaans: drie (af)
• Ainu: レ (re)
• Akkadian: 𒁹𒁹𒁹 (šalāš)
• Albanian: tre (sq) m, tri (sq) f
• Alutiiq: pingayun
• American Sign Language:
• Amharic: ሦስት (am) (śost), ሶስት (sost) (numeral: ፫)
• Arabic: ثَلَاثَة‎‎ (ar) (ṯalāṯa) (numeral: ٣‎‎ (3))

  Egyptian: تلاتة‎‎ (talāta)

  Moroccan Arabic: تْلاتة‎‎ (tlata)

• Aragonese: tres
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: תלתא‎‎ m (tlātā’), תלת‎‎ f (tlāt)

  Syriac: ܬܠܬܐ‎‎ m (tlātā’), ܬܠܬ‎‎ f (tlāt)

• Armenian: երեք (hy) (erekʿ)
• Aromanian: trei (roa-rup)
• Asháninka: mawa
• Assamese: তিনি (tini) (numeral: ৩)
• Asturian: tres (ast), trés (ast)
• Aymara: kimsa (ay)
• Azerbaijani: üç (az)
• Banjarese: talu
• Bashkir: өс (ös)
• Basque: hiru (eu)
• Belarusian: тры (be) (try), (collective) тро́е (tróje), тро́йка f (trójka)
• Bengali: তিন (bn) (tin) (numeral: ৩)
• Brahui: musiŧ
• Breton: tri (br) m, teir (br) f
• Bulgarian: три (bg) (tri)
• Burmese: သုံး (my) (sum:) (numeral: ၃ (my) (3))
• Buryat: гурбан (gurban)
• Catalan: tres (ca)
• Cebuano: tulo, tres
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴽⵕⴰⴹ (kṛaḍ)
• Central Dusun: tolu
• Central Sierra Miwok: toló·košu-
• Chamicuro: kilko
• Chechen: кхоъ (qoʾ)
• Cherokee: ᏦᎢ (tsoi)
• Chichewa: tatu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 三 (sam¹)

  Dungan: сан (san)

  Eastern Hokkien (Min Dong): 三 (sang)

  Hakka: 三 (sāng)

  Mandarin: 三 (zh) (sān) (numeral: 參 (zh))

  Min Nan: (Xiamen) 三 (zh-min-nan) (sā̃, sām), 三 (zh-min-nan) (sam1) (Teochew)

  Wu: 三 (se)

• Chukchi: ӈыроӄ (ŋəroq)
• Chuukese: unungat, won
• Chuvash: виҫӗ (viśĕ), виҫҫӗ (viśśĕ)
• Cornish: tri m, teyr f
• Corsican: trè (co)
• Cree: nisto
• Crimean Tatar: üç
• Czech: tři (cs), (collective) troje (cs)
• Dalmatian: tra
• Danish: tre (da)
• Dena'ina: tuq'i
• Dhivehi: ތިން‎‎ (tin)
• Dolgan: үс (üs)
• Dutch: drie (nl)
• Eastern Mari: кумыт (kumət)
• Elfdalian: tri
• Erzya: колмо (kolmo)
• Esperanto: tri (eo)
• Estonian: kolm (et)
• Evenki: илан (ilan)
• Faroese: tríggir m, tríggjar f, trý n, trinnir m (distributive number)
• Fijian: tolu (fj)
• Finnish: kolme (fi)
• French: trois (fr)
• Friulian: trê
• Ga: etɛ̃, etɛ
• Gagauz: üç
• Galician: tres (gl)
• Garifuna: ürüwa
• Ge'ez: ሠለስቱ m (śälästu), ሠላስ f (śälas) (numeral: ፫)
• Georgian: სამი (ka) (sami)
• German: drei (de)
• Gilbertese: tenua
• Gothic: 𐌸𐍂𐌹𐌾𐌰 (þrija)
• Greek: τρία (el) (tría), γ΄ (g΄) (numeral)

  Ancient: τρεῖς (treîs), γ΄ (g΄) (numeral)

• Greenlandic: pingasut (kl)
• Guaraní: mbohapy
• Gujarati: ત્રગડો (tragḍo) (numeral: ૩)
• Hadza: sámaka
• Haitian Creole: twa
• Hausa: ukù
• Hawaiian: kolu, ʻekolu
• Hebrew: שָׁלוֹשׁ‎‎ (he) f (shalosh) (used in counting), שְׁלוֹשָׁה‎‎ m (shlosha)
• Hindi: तीन (hi) (tīn) (numeral: ३ (hi))
• Hopi: pàayoʼ
• Hungarian: három (hu)
• Hunsrik: drei
• Icelandic: þrír (is) m, þrjár (is) f, þrjú (is) n
• Ido: tri (io)
• Ilocano: tallo
• Inari Sami: kulmâ
• Indonesian: tiga (id)
• Ingush: кхоъ (qoʾ)
• Interlingua: tres
• Interlingue: tri
• Irish: trí (ga)

  Old Irish: trí

• Istriot: trì
• Istro-Romanian: trei
• Italian: tre (it)
• Itelmen: ч’оӄ (ç’oq)
• Japanese: 三 (ja) (さん, san; み, mi), 三つ (ja) (みっつ, mittsu)
• Javanese: telu (jv)
• Kalmyk: һурвн (hurvn)
• Kannada: ಮೂರು (kn) (mūru): (numeral: ೩ (kn) (3))
• Karachay-Balkar: юч (üç)
• Karaim: üč
• Karakhanid: اُجْ‎‎ (üč)
• Karelian: kolme
• Kashubian: trzë
• Kazakh: үш (kk) (üş)
• Khakas: ӱс (üs)
• Khanty: хәԓум (xəḷum) (Kazym)
• Khmer: បី (km) (bəy) (numeral: ៣ (3))
• Komi-Permyak: куим (kuim)
• Komi-Zyrian: куйм (kujm)
• Korean: 셋 (ko) (set), 세 (ko) (se) (determiner), 석 (ko) (seok), 삼 (ko) (sam) (三 (ko))
• Koryak: ӈыёӄ
• Kumyk: уьч (üç)
• Kuna: pa
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: sê (ku)

  Sorani: سێ‎‎ (sê)

• Kyrgyz: үч (ky) (üç)
• Lakota: yámni
• Lao: ສາມ (sām) (numeral: ໓)
• Latgalian: treis pl
• Latin: trēs (la) m, f, tria (la) n
• Latvian: trīs (lv)
• Ligurian: tréi m, træ f
• Lithuanian: trys (lt) m, trys (lt) f
• Livonian: kuolm
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: drij (Gronings), drèje (Gronings)

  German Low German: drei (nds), dree (nds)

• Luo: adek
• Luxembourgish: dräi (lb)
• Lü: ᦉᦱᧄ (ṡaam) (numeral: ᧓)
• Macedonian: три (mk) (tri)
• Madurese: telloʔ
• Malagasy: telo (mg)
• Malay:

  Jawi: تيݢ‎‎, تلو‎‎, تري‎‎

  Rumi: tiga (ms), telu, tri

• Malayalam: മൂന്നു (mūnnu), മൂന്ന് (ml) (mūnnŭ) (numeral: ൩)

• Maltese: tlieta (mt)
• Manchu: ᠢᠯᠠᠨ (ilan) (numeral: ᠓)
• Mangarevan: toru
• Mansi: хурум (xūrum)
• Manx: three, tree
• Maori: toru (mi)
• Marathi: तीन (tīn)
• Maricopa: xamok, hmuk
• Marshallese: jilu
• Megleno-Romanian: trei
• Minangkabau: tigo
• Mirandese: trés
• Mongolian: ^{(please verify)} гурав (mn) (gurav), ^{(please verify)} ᠭᠤᠷᠪᠠᠨ (ɣurban) (numeral: ᠓)
• Montagnais: nishtᵘ
• Muong: pà
• Nahuatl: ēyi (nah), yēi
• Nama: ǃnona
• Nauruan: aiju
• Navajo: tááʼ
• Nepali: तीन (ne) (tīn)
• Ngazidja Comorian: -raru
• Niuean: tolu
• Nogai: уьш (üş)
• Norman: trais
• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: trii

  Helgoland: tree

  Mooring: tra m, trii f, n

  Sylt: trii

• Northern Sami: golbma
• Northern Yukaghir: йалуонь (jaluoń)
• Norwegian: tre (no), tri (no)
• Novial: tri
• O'odham: vaik
• Occitan: tres (oc)
• Ojibwe: niswi
• Old Church Slavonic: триѥ (trije), трьѥ (trĭje), три (tri), виҫҫӗ (viҫҫӗ)
• Old English: þrie, þreo
• Old Frisian: thrē, thriā, thriū
• Old Turkic: 𐰇𐰲‎‎ (üč)
• Oriya: ତିନି (or) (tini) (numeral: ୩)
• Oscan: 𐌕𐌓𐌝𐌔 (trís)
• Ossetian: ӕртӕ (ærtæ)
• Ottoman Turkish: اوچ‎‎ (üç)
• Papiamentu: tres
• Pashto: درې‎‎ (ps) (dre)
• Pennsylvania German: drei
• Persian: سه‎‎ (fa) (se), سو‎‎ (fa) (so) (dialectal), (numeral: ۳‎‎)
• Pipil: yey
• Polish: trzy (pl) pl, (collective) troje (pl), trójka (pl) f
• Portuguese: três (pt)
• Punjabi: ਤਿੰਨ (tinn) (numeral: ੩ (3))
• Purepecha: tanimu
• Quechua: kimsa (qu), kinsa
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Rapa Nui: ka toru
• Rarotongan: toru
• Rohingya: tin
• Romani: trin

  Kalo Finnish Romani: triin

• Romanian: trei (ro)
• Romansch: trais
• Russian: три (ru) (tri), тро́е (ru) (tróje) (collective), тро́йка (ru) f (trójka)
• Rusyn: три (try)
• S'gaw Karen: သၢ (thø)
• Samoan: tolu (sm)
• Sanskrit: त्रि (sa) (tri), त्रयं (trayaṃ)
• Sardinian: tres
• Saterland Frisian: tjo
• Scottish Gaelic: trì, triùir m
• Semai: tige
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: три̑

  Roman: trȋ

• Shan: သၢမ် (sʰaam1) (numeral: ႓)
• Shor: ӱш (üş)
• Sichuan Yi: ꌕ (suo)
• Sicilian: tri (scn)
• Sikkimese: སུམ (sum)
• Sindhi: ٽي‎‎ (sd) (ti)
• Sinhalese: තුන (si) (tuna)
• Skolt Sami: koumm
• Slovak: tri (sk), traja
• Slovene: tríje, (when counting) trí (sl)
• Slovincian: třȧ̃
• Somali: saddex (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tśi

  Upper Sorbian: třo m, tři f, n

• Southern Altai: ӱч (üç)
• Spanish: tres (es)
• Sumerian: 𒁹𒁹𒁹 (eš5)
• Sundanese: tilu (su)
• Swedish: tre (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠔꠤꠘ (tin)
• Tagalog: tatlo (tl)
• Tahitian: toru
• Tai Dam: ꪎꪱꪣ
• Tai Nüa: ᥔᥣᥛᥴ (saam¹)
• Tajik: се (tg) (se)
• Talysh: سه‎‎ (se) (Asalemi)
• Tamil: மூன்று (ta) (mūṉṟu) (numeral: ௩ (௩)), மூன்று (ta) (mūṉṟu)
• Taos: póyuo
• Tashelhit: krad m, krat f
• Tatar: өч (tt) (öç)
• Telugu: మూడు (te) (mūḍu) (numeral: ౩ (te) (3))
• Thai: สาม (th) (sǎam) (numeral: ๓ (th) (3))
• Tibetan: གསུམ (gsum) (numeral: ༣)
• Tigre: ሰለስ (säläs) (numeral: ፫)
• Tigrinya: ሰለስተ (sälästä) (numeral: ፫)
• Tlingit: nás’k, nás’gináx̱
• Toba Batak: tolu
• Tocharian A: tre
• Tocharian B: trai, trey
• Tok Pisin: tripela
• Tupinambá: mosapyr
• Turkish: üç (tr)
• Turkmen: üç (tk)
• Tuvaluan: tolu
• Tuvan: үш (üš)
• Tz'utujil: oxi
• Udmurt: куинь (kuinʹ)
• Ukrainian: три (uk) (try), (collective) тро́є (tróje), трі́йко (tríjko) colloquial, трі́єчко (tríječko) colloquial diminutive, трі́йка (uk) f (tríjka)
• Umbrian: 𐌕𐌓𐌉𐌚 (trif)
• Unami: naxa
• Urdu: تین‎‎ m (tīn)
• Uyghur: ئۈچ‎‎ (ug) (üch)
• Uzbek: uch (uz)
• Venetian: tre, tri
• Veps: koume
• Vietnamese: ba (vi)
• Vilamovian: draj
• Volapük: kil (vo)
• Votic: kõlmõd, кылмыд
• Võro: kolm
• Wakhi: tru
• Walloon: troes (wa)
• Waray-Waray: bungto
• Welsh: tri (cy) m, tair (cy) f
• West Frisian: trije (fy)
• Western Apache: táági
• White Hmong: peb
• Winnebago: taanį
• Wiradhuri: Bula Ngumbaay
• Wolof: ñett
• Xhosa: ntathu
• Yagnobi: тирай
• Yakut: үс (üs)
• Yao: tatu
• Yiddish: דרײַ‎‎ (dray)
• Yucatec Maya: óox
• Yup'ik: pingayun
• Zazaki: hîrê
• Zhuang: sam (Sawndip 三)
• Zuni: ha'i

set or group with three components

• French: trio (fr) m
• Latgalian: treji m, trejis f
• Lithuanian: trejeri (lt) m, trejerios f
• Macedonian: тројка f (trojka)
• Romanian: triplu (ro) m, n, triplă f

• Russian: тро́йка (ru) f (trójka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тро́јка f

  Roman: trójka (sh) f

• Walloon: troejhinne (wa) f

See also

• Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

Noun

three (plural threes)

1. The digit/figure 3.
2. Anything measuring three units, as length.

   Put all the threes in a separate container.

3. A person who is three years old.

   All the threes will go in Mrs. Smith's class, while I'll take the fours and fives.

4. The playing card featuring three pips.
5. (basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.

Derived terms

Terms derived from three

• threefold
• threepence
• three-phase
• Three Rivers

• threesome
• three-up
• three-way

• three-wheel
• three-wheeler
• thruppence

Translations

digit/figure 3

• Armenian: երեք (hy) (erekʿ)
• Asturian: tres (ast) m
• Basque: hiru (eu)
• Belarusian: тро́йка f (trójka)
• Catalan: tres (ca) m
• Danish: tre (da)
• Dutch: drie (nl) f
• Finnish: kolmonen (fi)
• French: trois (fr) m
• Galician: tres (gl) m
• German: Drei (de) f

  Alemannic German: drüü

• Hebrew: שלוש‎‎ (he) f (shalósh)
• Hungarian: hármas (hu)
• Italian: tre (it)
• Japanese: san (ja)
• Lithuanian: trejetas (lt) m
• Macedonian: тројка f (trojka)

• Pennsylvania German: drei
• Polish: trójka (pl) f
• Portuguese: três (pt) m
• Romanian: trei (ro) m
• Russian: тро́йка (ru) f (trójka)
• Scottish Gaelic: trì
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тро́јка f

  Roman: trójka (sh) f

• Sindhi: ٽي‎‎ (sd)
• Slovak: trojka f
• Slovene: trojka f
• Spanish: tres (es) m
• Swedish: trea (sv)
• Tamil: மூன்று (ta) (mūṉṟu)
• Tok Pisin: tri
• Ukrainian: трі́йка (uk) f (tríjka)
• Vietnamese: số ba

See also

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
ace	deuce, two	three	four	five	six	seven
eight	nine	ten	jack, knave	queen	king	joker

Symbols of number three in various numeral systems

• Amharic numerals: ፫
• Arabic numerals: 3
• Assyro-Babylonian numerals: 𒁹𒁹𒁹
• Bengali numerals: ৩
• Chinese numerals: 叄, 三
• Eastern Arabic numerals: ٣‎
• Gujarati numerals: ૩
• Gurmukhi numerals: ੩
• Hindi numerals: ३

• Kannada numerals: ೩
• Khmer numerals: ៣
• Lao numerals: ໓
• Limbu numerals: ᥉
• Malayalam numerals: ൩
• Mongolian numerals: ᠓
• Myanmar numerals: ၃
• Oriya numerals: ୩
• Persian numerals: ۳‎
• Roman numerals: III
• Tamil numerals: ௩
• Telugu numerals: ౩
• Thai numerals: ๓
• Tibetan numerals: ༣

Anagrams

• Ehret, Ether, Reeth, ether, rethe, theer, there

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Manx

Alternative forms

• tree

Etymology

From Old Irish trí, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t̪riː/

Numeral

three

1. (cardinal) three

References

• “trí” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

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Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θriː/
• (South Scots) IPA^(key): /θrəi/
• (Shetland) IPA^(key): /triː/

Numeral

three

1. (cardinal) three