triphibian

[trahy-fib-ee-uhn]

adjective

1. skilled in combat equally on land, sea, and in the air.

2. (of an aircraft) equipped to take off from land, water, snow, or ice.

3. triphibious.

noun

1. a person who is triphibian.

2. a triphibian airplane.

Word History and Origins

Origin of triphibian¹

First recorded in 1940–45; tri- + (am)phibian

Example Sentences

Politicos Winston Churchill found that the fighting versatility of Lord Louis Mountbatten, newly appointed Allied Commander in Southeast Asia, called for a new word, promptly furnished it : "He is what, pedants notwithstanding, I will venture to call a complete triphibian�that is to say, a creature equally at home in three elements, earth, air and water, and also well accustomed to fire."

Read more on Time Magazine Archive

Noise of air, he was flying, it must have been a triphibian they took him onto.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

But he could not anticipate what would happen to him in his Triphibian Atomicar.

Read more on Project Gutenberg