trillium

American

[tril-ee-uhm] / ˈtrɪl i əm /

noun

any of several plants belonging to the genus Trillium, of the lily family, having a whorl of three leaves from the center of which rises a solitary, three-petalled flower.

trillium British

/ ˈtrɪljəm /

noun

any herbaceous plant of the genus Trillium , of Asia and North America, having a whorl of three leaves at the top of the stem with a single central white, pink, or purple three-petalled flower: family Trilliaceae

"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

Etymology

Origin of trillium

< New Latin (Linnaeus), apparently alteration of Swedish trilling triplet, alluding to the foliation

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

trillium

Like the three-petaled trillium, the book has three sections.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Stop to catch your breath and admire the trillium blooming along the trailside.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023

In early summer, they made a game of counting the wild irises or trillium we passed on the way home or to town.

From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2022

There are also local wildflowers - trillium, dogtooth violets and cornflowers from ditches.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2019

The trees, predominantly oak, were more fully in bud, and there were occasional clumps of wildflowers—bloodroot and trillium and Dutchmen’s breeches—rising through the carpet of last year’s leaves.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023