trifoliate

[trahy-foh-lee-it, -eyt]

adjective

having three leaflets, lobes, or foils; trefoil.
Botany. trifoliolate.

Sometimes tri·fo·li·at·ed [trahy-foh-lee-ey-tid] /traɪˈfoʊ liˌeɪ tɪd/.

Origin of trifoliate

First recorded in 1690–1700; tri- + foliate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for trifoliate

Historical Examples of trifoliate

The leaves are trifoliate, though sometimes they grow singly.
The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 13
William Curtis
The stem of the plant is bushy and branched; the leaves are trifoliate.
Prairie Smoke (Second Edition, Revised)
Melvin Randolph Gilmore
Changed "trifoliate" to "trifoliolate" in the index entry for "Foliolate."
The Elements of Botany
Asa Gray
The trifoliate leaves are numerous, especially on the upper portions.
Clovers and How to Grow Them
Thomas Shaw
Again, the old furze-bush will have its leaves converted into spines, though the seedling started with a trifoliate leaf.
Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation
James Buckman

British Dictionary definitions for trifoliate

trifoliate

trifoliated

adjective

having three leaves, leaflike parts, or (of a compound leaf) leaflets

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012