trinary

American  

[trahy-nuh-ree] / ˈtraɪ nə ri /

adjective

1. consisting of three parts, or proceeding by three; ternary.

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trinary British  

/ ˈtraɪnərɪ /

adjective

1. made up of three parts; ternary

2. going in threes

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Etymology

Origin of trinary

1425–75; late Middle English trynary < Late Latin trīnārius of three kinds, equivalent to Latin trīn ( ī ) by threes (alteration of ternī (derivative of ter thrice; ter- ) on the model of bīnī by twos; binary ) + -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

It is also rather unique, as a trinary, or a system comprised of three different stars.

From Salon

Instead, evidence suggests that turbulence clumps particles together in a cloud, which then gravitationally collapses into a binary or trinary mass.

From Science Magazine

From our Earthly perspective, a star may suddenly dim for many reasons: if it is in a binary or trinary system, its companion star may briefly eclipse it from our perspective, temporarily reducing the amount of light reaching us.

From Salon

To do so, the team first translated written words or other data into a standard binary code of 0s and 1s, and then converted this to a trinary code of 0s, 1s, and 2s—a step needed to help prevent the introduction of errors.

From Science Magazine

Binary stars are well-known, but it seems these trinary systems may also be common The graceful dance between three stars seen by the Kepler telescope has drawn the attention of astronomers because it is not accompanied by a song.

From BBC