triliteral

American  

[trahy-lit-er-uhl] / traɪˈlɪt ər əl /

adjective

1. using or consisting of three letters.

2. (of Semitic roots) consisting of three consonants.

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noun

1. a triliteral word or root.

triliteral British  

/ traɪˈlɪtərəl /

adjective

1. having three letters

2. (of a word root in Semitic languages) consisting of three consonants

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noun

1. a word root of three consonants

Etymology

Origin of triliteral

First recorded in 1745–55; tri- + literal

Example Sentences

For 90 years Britons have adventured out to India and returned a-homing upon steamers bearing the triliteral device, "P. & O."

From Time Magazine Archive

The typical Coptic root thus became biliteral rather than triliteral, and the verb, by means of periphrases, developed tenses of remarkable precision.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various

Thus, like them, he distinguishes triliteral, biliteral, and even uniliteral roots; but contrary to them, he maintains that contracted and quiescent verbs are triliteral and not biliteral.

From Rashi by Szold, Adele

“The great immutable words preceded by the triliteral syllable and followed by the gayatri, which consists of three measures, must be considered as the mouth or principal part of the Veda.”

From Phallic Miscellanies Facts and Phases of Ancient and Modern Sex Worship, as Illustrated Chiefly in the Religions of India by Jennings, Hargrave

Vau, in the triliteral word, denotes the six members of the Microprosopos, 793-l.

From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert