three

Translingual




Signal flag for the digit 3

Alternative forms

Three, THREE

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tréyes

Proto-Germanic *þrīz

Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ

Old English þrī

Middle English thre

English threebor.

Translingual three

Borrowed from English three. Doublet of drei.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈtri], like tree^[1]

Noun

three

(international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 3.
Synonym: terrathree (ITU/IMO)

ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codesedit

ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codesedit

References

^ Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status‎^[1], 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, October 2001, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

three

Wikipedia

**English numbers ^(edit)**
	30
← 2	3	4 →
Cardinal: three Ordinal: third Abbreviated ordinal: 3rd Latinate ordinal: tertiary Reverse order ordinal: third last, third to last, third from last, last but two Latinate reverse order ordinal: antepenultimate Adverbial: three times, thrice Multiplier: threefold Latinate multiplier: triple Distributive: triply Germanic collective: trio, threesome Collective of n parts: triplet Greek or Latinate collective: triad Greek collective prefix: tri- Latinate collective prefix: tri- Fractional: third Elemental: triplet Greek prefix: trito- Number of musicians: trio, triplet Number of years: triennium Quantile: tercile, tertile

Alternative forms

thre, þree, threy, thrie (all, obsolete)
free, tree, t'ree (eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English thre, threo, thrie, thri, from Old English þrī, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Doublet of tres and trey.

Cognate with German drei, Albanian tre, Armenian երեք (erekʻ), Latin trēs, Latvian trīs, Lithuanian trỹs, Greek τρεῖς (treís), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.

Pronunciation

(Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /θɹɪj/
(Received Pronunciation) enPR: thrē IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː], [θɾ̪̊ɪi], [θɹ̥ɪi]
(UK, th-fronting) enPR: frē IPA^(key): /fɹiː/
(Ireland) IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː], [t̪ɾ̪̊iː]
(General American) enPR: thrē IPA^(key): /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊i], [θɹ̥i], [θɹi]
Audio (US): (file)
Homophones: tree (th-stopping); free (th-fronting)
Rhymes: -iː

Numeral

three

A numerical value equal to 3; the number following two and preceding four.
- 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
  Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.
- 1995, Nancy Berliner, Sarah Handler, Friends of the House‎^[2], →ISBN, page 79:
  There is a soft-mat seat (which originally had a palm fiber underwebbing) supported by three curved transverse braces.
- 2003 April 7, Michelle Lamoreaux, Robert Lamoreaux, “A Spy is Born Part II”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Clover (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Andrea Taylor), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:
  Okay, on three, we open the door and jump on the rope. One, two…
  Wait, wait! Do we go on three? Or do we go on “go”?
  Three! Who said anything about “go”?
- 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv‎^[3], page 2‎^[4]:
  Now we continue zooming-in in three different directions depending on the number of ones.
- 2011 October 18, Paul Dini, Paul Crocker, Sefton Hill, Batman: Arkham City, spoken by Joker thugs, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:
  Why should she care? One…two…
  Do we shoot on three?
  Yes on three. Like one, two, three, shoot.
- 2021 September 15, Hannah Ryan, “RuPaul has a new namesake – and it’s a fabulous, rainbow-colored fly”, in CNN‎^[5], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 8 February 2026:
  The beetles are named Binburrum articuno, Binburrum moltres and Binburrum zapdos after three rare Pokémon: Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos.
Describing a set or group with three elements.

Synonyms

(numerical value): leash, tether (dialectal)

Related terms

third, thrice, triple

Translations

See three/translations § Numeral.

Noun

three (plural threes)

The digit/figure 3.
- 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv‎^[6], page 1‎^[7]:
  In our example, 1210 has 1 zero, 2 ones, 1 two and 0 threes.
Anything measuring three units, as length.
Put all the threes in a separate container.
A person who is three years old.
All the threes will go in Mrs. Smith's class, while I'll take the fours and fives.
The playing card featuring three pips.
Three o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Three Investigators Come across a Dark Soul”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
  It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three.
(basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.