Affixes

Some examples are triangle, literally ‘three-cornered’ (Latin angulus, corner); triathlon, an athletic contest consisting of three different events; tripod (Latin pous, pod‑, foot), a three-legged stand for supporting a camera or other apparatus; trilingual, able to speak three languages (Latin lingua, tongue); tripartite (Latin partitus, divided), consisting of three parts; the fossil animal called a trilobite (Greek lobos, lobe) had a segmented hindpart divided longitudinally into three lobes; triplicate (Latin triplex, triplic‑, threefold), refers to something existing in three copies or examples. The form is widely used in chemistry to indicate the presence of three atoms or groups of a given type: trichloroacetic acid, triiodothyronine, trisaccharide. See also trito‑.