triliteral

[ trahy-lit-er-uhl ]

adjective

1. using or consisting of three letters.
2. (of Semitic roots) consisting of three consonants.

noun

1. a triliteral word or root.

triliteral

/ traɪˈlɪtərəl /

adjective

1. having three letters
2. (of a word root in Semitic languages) consisting of three consonants

noun

1. a word root of three consonants

Word History and Origins

Origin of triliteral¹

First recorded in 1745–55; tri- + literal

Example Sentences

He triplicates himself into three persons or powers, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer, or Reproducer; and is designated by the word Om or Aum by the respective letters of which sacred triliteral syllable are expressed the powers into which he triplicates himself.

From Project Gutenberg

Triliteral, trī-lit′ėr-al, adj. consisting of three letters.—n.

From Project Gutenberg

The advantage of Egyptian, that it is represented in texts of 3000 B.C., while the sister tongues exist only in forms 5000 years later, allows us, e.g. to trace the Semitic principle of triliteral roots more clearly in Egyptian; but still the latter tongue is hardly more characteristically archaic or nearer Semitic than Beja or Kabylic.

From Project Gutenberg

“Brahma milked out as it were, from the three Vedas the letter A, the letter U, and the letter M, which form by their coalition the triliteral monosyllable, together with three mysterious words, bhur, bhuva, and siver.”

From Project Gutenberg

This awful monosyllable is triliteral, and perhaps therefore better written AUM, for three Sanscrit letters do in fact compose it: but in composition A and U coalesce in O. The first letter is supposed to be symbolical of Brahma, the creative power of the Deity; the second of Vishnu, the preserver; and the last of Siva, the destroyer or renovator.

From Project Gutenberg