three R's

American  

plural noun

1. reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, regarded as the fundamentals of education.

2. the fundamentals, basic knowledge, or skills of any system or field.

   the three R's of good government.

---

three Rs British  

plural noun

1. the three skills regarded as the fundamentals of education; reading, writing, and arithmetic

---

three R's Idioms  

1. The fundamentals of education, as in It's a terrible school; the children are not even taught the three R's. It is widely believed that Sir William Curtis, an alderman who became Lord Mayor of London, once presented a toast to the three R's—reading, riting, and rithmetic—thereby betraying his illiteracy. In any event, the term was picked up by others and so used from the early 1800s on.

---

Etymology

Origin of three R's

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

You’re in such a unique position because vintage dealers are often checking off each box in the three R’s of recycling: reduce, reuse, recycle.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 10, 2023

Over clanging keyboards and piercing guitar notes that teetered on the edge of tunefulness, Smith sneered and pledged his allegiance to the three R’s: “Repetition, repetition, repetition.”

From Washington Post • Jan. 25, 2018

Usually we think of the three R’s, but those are skills.

From Washington Times • Jun. 2, 2015

The truth: They specialise in indie's three R's: jolly, jaunty joy.

From The Guardian • Feb. 7, 2013

Remarkably, the three R’s of gene physiology are acutely dependent on the molecular structure of DNA—on the Watson-Crick base pairing of the double helix.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee