three

• Three, THREE

Borrowed from English three.

• IPA^(key): [ˈtri], like tree^[1]

three

1. (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 3.

   Synonym: terrathree (ITU/IMO)

• thre, threy, thrie (all obsolete)

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 (treîs), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.

• (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

three

1. A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••).
   • 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.

   • 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”?

   • 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.

2. Describing a set or group with three elements.

• (numerical value): leash, tether (dialectal)

• third, thrice, triple

• Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

three (plural threes)

1. The digit/figure 3.
2. Anything measuring three units, as length.

   Put all the threes in a separate container.

3. 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.

4. The playing card featuring three pips.
5. 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.

6. (basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.

• Ehret, Ether, Reeth, ether, rethe, theer, there

three

1. Alternative spelling of tree.

• (South Scots) threi, shrei, hrei

From Middle English thre, from Old English þriē, þrī, þreō, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

• IPA^(key): /θriː/
• (Southern Scots) IPA^(key): /θrəi/
• (Shetland) IPA^(key): /triː/

three

1. three

• “three, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
• “three, num.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.