triplet

[trip-lit]

noun

1. one of three children or offspring born at the same birth.

2. triplets, three offspring born at one birth.

3. any group or combination of three.

4. Prosody.,  three successive verses or lines, especially when rhyming and of the same length; a stanza of three lines.

5. Also called tercet. Music.,  a group of three notes to be performed in the time of two ordinary notes of the same kind.

6. an assembled imitation gem with three parts, the center one giving the color, the top and bottom, sometimes genuine, supplying the wearing qualities.

7. Genetics.,  a sequence of three nucleotides; a codon in messenger RNA and an anticodon in transfer RNA.

8. Optics.,  a compound lens in which three lenses are combined.

9. triplets, (in some card games) three cards of the same denomination.

triplet

/ ˈtrɪplɪt /

noun

1. a group or set of three similar things

2. one of three offspring born at one birth

3. music a group of three notes played in a time value of two, four, etc

4. chem a state of a molecule or free radical in which there are two unpaired electrons

Word History and Origins

Origin of triplet¹

First recorded in 1650–60; triple + -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of triplet¹

C17: from _triple , on the model of doublet

Example Sentences

She moved with her family from New York - which does not allow religious exemptions for vaccines - to Florida, so her six-year-old unvaccinated triplets could attend public school with the waiver.

From BBC

In this case, the woman was pregnant with triplets and two of the foetuses began to grow inside the abdomen of the baby.

From BBC

Baby O was born in June 2016, one of triplet brothers.

From BBC

"It happened by chance," said Rose, the eldest of the triplets.

From BBC

Chapin's mother said her son, who was a triplet, was "the life of the party" and "the kindest person".

From BBC

Related Words

• threesome 
• trilogy 
• triumvirate