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trisyllable

[ trahy-sil-uh-buhl, trahy-sil-, trih- ]

noun

  1. a word of three syllables, as pendulum.


trisyllable

/ ˌtraɪsɪˈlæbɪk; traɪˈsɪləbəl /

noun

  1. a word of three syllables
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • trisyllabic, adjective
  • ˌtrisylˈlabically, adverb
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Other Words From

  • tri·syl·lab·ic [trahy-si-, lab, -ik, tris-i-], trisyl·labi·cal adjective
  • trisyl·labi·cal·ly adverb
  • tri·syllab·ism noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of trisyllable1

1580–90; tri- + syllable, modeled on Greek trisýllabos having three syllables
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Example Sentences

My name is not so short: ’Tis a trisyllable, an’t please your worship; But vulgar tongues have made bold to profane it With the short sound of that unhallowed idol They call a kit.

Dr. Hall has also shown that scientist, which Mr. A. J. Ellis saw fit to denounce as an "American barbaric trisyllable," was first used by an Englishman, Dr. Whewell, in 1840.

Sappho dissolves the word ὦον into a trisyllable, making it ὤïον, when she says— They say that formerly Leda found an egg.

A less number are dissyllabic; few exceed this; and it may be questioned, from the present state of the examination, whether there is a single primitive trisyllable.

When introduced early in the 18th century it was as a trisyllable co-co-a, a mispronunciation of cacao or cocoa, the Spanish adaptation from the Mexican cacauatl.

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trisulphidetrit.