triangle

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See also: Triangle

English

A regular triangle, the geometric shape.
A triangle, the musical instrument.
The triangles, a whipping post formed by three poles.

Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes

From Middle English triangle, from Old French triangle, from Latin triangulum, noun use of adjective triangulus (“three-cornered, having three angles”), from trēs (“three”) + angulus (“corner, angle”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈtɹaɪəŋɡəl/, /ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/
  • (US) enPR: trī'-ăng-gəl, IPA(key): /ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪæŋɡəl
  • Hyphenation: tri‧an‧gle

Noun

triangle (plural triangles)

  1. (geometry) A polygon with three sides and three angles.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 22:
      The wedge-shaped character was the triangle, the archaic Paleolithic sign of the vulva; the pubic triangle was at the end of the phallic stylus.
  2. (US, Canada) A set square.
  3. (music) A percussion instrument made by forming a metal rod into a triangular shape which is open at one angle. It is suspended from a string and hit with a metal bar to make a resonant sound.
  4. (cue sports) A triangular piece of equipment used for gathering the balls into the formation required by the game being played.
  5. A love triangle.
    • 2009, Neil McDonald, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 104:
      One of the writers' most pleasing inventions was to treat the triangle love story as comedy.
  6. (systemics) The structure of systems composed with three interrelated objects.
  7. A draughtsman's square in the form of a right-angled triangle.
  8. (historical, usually in the plural) A frame formed of three poles stuck in the ground and united at the top, to which people were bound when undergoing corporal punishment.
    • 1868, “The Week”, in The Nation‎, volume 6, number 149:
      But nothing is said as to what we are to do with the negro when we have cut him off from absolute dominion; we are not informed if we may spread him on the triangles as aforetime;
  9. Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Graphium.
    Synonym: bluebottle
  10. (rail transport) A triangular formation of railway tracks, with a curve on at least one side.
    • 1961 March, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 147:
      After turning on the triangle at Jeumont, we set off light engine back to Aulnoye.
    Synonym: wye

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

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

Further reading

Anagrams

Catalan

Catalan Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ca

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin triangulum.

Pronunciation

Noun

triangle m (plural triangles)

  1. (geometry) triangle
  2. (music) triangle

Related terms

Further reading

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin triangulum. By surface analysis, tri- +‎ angle.

Pronunciation

Noun

triangle m (plural triangles)

  1. (geometry) triangle (polygon)
    triangle équilatéral ― equilateral triangle
    triangle isocèle ― isosceles triangle
  2. (music) triangle (percussion instrument)

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

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