triad
Meanings
Plural: triads
Noun
- the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
- a set of three similar things considered as a unit
- three people considered as a unit
- a three-note major or minor chord; a note and its third and fifth tones
- A grouping of three.
- A word of three syllables.
- A branch of a Chinese underground criminal society, mostly based in Hong Kong.
- On a CRT display, a group of three neighbouring phosphor dots, coloured green, red, and blue.
- A chord consisting of a root tone, the tone two degrees higher, and the tone four degrees higher in a given scale OR any chord with three notes.
Origin / Etymology
PIE word
*tréyes
From Latin triad-, stem of trias (“three, triad”), from Ancient Greek τριάς (triás).
Sense 3 (“branch of a Chinese underground criminal society”) is due to the word being applied by the British authorities to underground society in Hong Kong based on the geometry of the Chinese character, derived from a name used by some of those societies, 三合會 /三合会 (sānhéhuì, “Three Harmonies Society”), referring to the union between heaven, earth, and humanity.
Synonyms
3, common chord, deuce-ace, III, leash, tercet, tern, ternary, ternion, terzetto, three, threeness, threesome, tierce, trey, triad, trinary, trine, trinity, trio, triple, triplet, trisyllable, triumvirate, troika
Scrabble Score: 6
triad is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordtriad is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
triad is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary