trivial

English

Etymology

• From Latin triviālis (“appropriate to the street-corner, commonplace, vulgar”), from trivium (“place where three roads meet”). Compare trivium, trivia.
• From the distinction between trivium (“the lower division of the liberal arts; grammar, logic and rhetoric”) and quadrivium (“the higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪ.vi.əl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

trivial (comparative more trivial, superlative most trivial)

1. Ignorable; 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. Commonplace, ordinary.
   • (Can we date this quote by De Quincey and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     As a scholar, meantime, he was trivial, and incapable of labour.

3. Concerned with or involving trivia.
4. (taxonomy) 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.

Synonyms

• (of little significance): ignorable, negligible, trifling

Antonyms

• nontrivial
• important
• significant
• radical
• fundamental

Derived terms

• trivia

Translations

of little significance or value

• Arabic: تافِه (tāfih)
• Catalan: trivial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無價值／无价值, 无价值 (wú jiàzhí)

• Czech: bezvýznamný (cs)
• Estonian: tühine
• Finnish: mitätön (fi), triviaali (fi)
• French: trivial (fr), anodin (fr) m
• Galician: trivial m or f
• Georgian: უმნიშვნელო (umnišvnelo), ტრივიალური (ṭrivialuri)
• Greek: ασήμαντος (el) (asímantos), τιποτένιος (el) m (tipoténios), μηδαμινός (el) m (midaminós)
• Hungarian: jelentéktelen (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: insignificante (it)
• Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai), 些細な (ja) (sasai na), 末梢的な (masshoteki na), 枝葉の (edaha no)
• Latin: levis (la) m
• Maori: meroiti, kūrapa, tātakimōri
• Polish: trywialny (pl), błahy (pl)
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: незначи́тельный (ru) (neznačítelʹnyj), ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij), ничто́жный (ru) (ničtóžnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: suarach
• Serbo-Croatian: trivijalan (sh)
• Spanish: trivial (es)
• Swedish: trivial (sv), enkel (sv)

common, ordinary

• Catalan: trivial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瑣細／琐细 (zh) (suǒxì), 琐细 (zh) (suǒxì), 無聊／无聊 (zh) (wúliáo), 无聊 (zh) (wúliáo)

• Czech: triviální (cs)
• Estonian: argine, tavaline
• Finnish: tavallinen (fi), yksinkertainen (fi)
• French: banal (fr) m
• Georgian: ჩვეულებრივი (čveulebrivi), ყოველდღიური (q̇oveldɣiuri), უბრალო (ubralo)
• Greek: κοινός (el) m (koinós)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: közönséges (hu), útszéli
• Italian: banale (it), ordinario (it)
• Japanese: ありふれた (arifureta)
• Polish: trywialny (pl)
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj), бана́льный (ru) (banálʹnyj), обы́чный (ru) (obýčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cumanta
• Spanish: trivial (es)
• Swedish: trivial (sv), ordinär (sv), vanlig (sv)

concerned with or involving trivia

• Catalan: banal (ca)
• Finnish: tyhjänpäiväinen (fi), turhanaikainen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 蛇足の (ja) (dasoku no)

(biology) relating to, or designating a species

• Czech: druhový
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 通称 (ja) (tsūshō)

(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case

• Finnish: triviaali (fi)
• French: trivial (fr)
• German: trivial (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj)

(mathematics) self-evident

• Czech: triviální (cs)
• Finnish: triviaali (fi)
• French: trivial (fr)
• German: trivial (de)
• Greek: τετριμμένος (el) m (tetrimménos)
• Hungarian: nyilvánvaló (hu), magától értetődő (hu), triviális (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: augljós m
• Japanese: 自明な (jimei na)
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj)
• Swedish: trivial (sv), uppenbar (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} تَافِه (tāfih)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} onbeduidend (nl)
• German: ^{(please verify)} trivial (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 사소한 (sasohan)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} trivialus (lt)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 瑣碎／琐碎 (suǒsuì), ^{(please verify)} 琐碎 (zh) (suǒsuì)

Noun

trivial (plural trivials)

1. (obsolete) Any of the three liberal arts forming the trivium.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Skelton to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wood to this entry?)

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “trivial”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• vitrail

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [tɾi.βiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [tɾi.viˈal]

Adjective

trivial m or f (masculine and feminine plural trivials)

1. trivial

Further reading

• “trivial” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁi.vjal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: triviale, triviales

Adjective

trivial (feminine triviale, masculine plural triviaux, feminine plural triviales)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)
2. ordinary, mundane
3. colloquial (language)

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• livrait, vitrail

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Galician

Adjective

trivial m or f (plural triviais)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Derived terms

• trivialidade
• trivialmente

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German

Etymology

Borrowed from French trivial, from Latin triviālis (“common”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁiviˈaːl/
• Rhymes: -aːl

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

trivial (comparative trivialer, superlative am trivialsten)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)

Related terms

• trivialisieren
• Trivialität

Further reading

• “trivial” in Duden online

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Piedmontese

Adjective

trivial

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾiviˈaw/
• IPA^(key): /tɾiˈvjaɫ/

Adjective

1. trivial

Derived terms

• trivialidade
• trivializar
• trivialmente

Further reading

• Template:R:DAN

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Romanian

Etymology

From French trivial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tri.viˈal/

Adjective

trivial m or n (feminine singular trivială, masculine plural triviali, feminine and neuter plural triviale)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Declension

Declension of trivial

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	trivial		trivială	triviali	triviale
	definite	trivialul		triviala	trivialii	trivialele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	trivial		triviale	triviali	triviale
	definite	trivialului		trivialei	trivialilor	trivialelor

Derived terms

• trivialitate
• trivializa

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾiˈbjal/ [t̪ɾiˈβ̞jal]
• Hyphenation: tri‧vial

Adjective

trivial m or f (masculine and feminine plural triviales)

1. trivial

Derived terms

• trivialidad
• trivializar
• trivialmente

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014