tripod

American  

[trahy-pod] / ˈtraɪ pɒd /

noun

1. a stool, table, pedestal, etc., with three legs.

2. a three-legged stand or support, as for a camera or telescope.

3. the oracular seat of the priestess of Apollo at Delphi.

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tripod British  

/ ˈtraɪpɒd, ˈtrɪpədəl /

noun

1. an adjustable and usually collapsible three-legged stand to which a camera, etc, can be attached to hold it steady

2. a stand or table having three legs

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Other Word Forms

• tripodal adjective

Etymology

Origin of tripod

1595–1605; < Latin tripod- (stem of tripūs ) < Greek tripod- (stem of trípous ) originally, three-footed. See tri-, -pod

Explanation

A tripod is a three-legged support for a camera. Once you try using a tripod for taking photographs, your sharp, beautiful pictures might make it hard to do without it. A tripod is a stand with three legs that holds a camera. Photographers and filmmakers use a tripod when they want the camera to be held completely still, without the slight bit of shaking that their hands might cause. Tripod comes from the Greek tripodos, "three-legged stool," made up of tri, or "three," plus podos, "foot." The word tripod was used in the past to mean anything with three legs, including vessels, stools, or tables.

Example Sentences

As night fell on Tucson, a man in a reflector jacket parked his truck on the same hill where Williams held court, and deployed a tripod.

From Slate • Feb. 23, 2026

For this video, though, the 21-year-old used a company-issued tripod and wore her Starbucks logo-emblazoned apron.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2025

Mr King, 67, had been packing up his tripod and was ready to book a hotel when he saw the bird.

From BBC • Nov. 12, 2024

The shutter speed should be slow, but at most 15 seconds, to capture the trail of light moving across the sky, and you’ll need a tripod to prevent blurriness.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2024

When Okeoma started his toast, she wiped her eyes and told the photographer standing behind the tripod, “Wait, wait, don’t take it yet.”

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie