triptych
Americannoun
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Fine Arts. a set of three panels or compartments side by side, bearing pictures, carvings, or the like.
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a hinged, three-leaved tablet, written on, in ancient times, with a stylus.
noun
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a set of three pictures or panels, usually hinged so that the two wing panels fold over the larger central one: often used as an altarpiece
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a set of three hinged writing tablets
Etymology
Origin of triptych
1725–35; < Greek tríptychos of three plates, equivalent to tri- tri- + ptych- (stem of ptýx ) plate + -os adj. suffix
Explanation
Artists sometimes create a triptych, a series of three panels that are meant to be displayed together. You can use the noun triptych to describe three paintings that are deliberately hung together, as one piece, on the walls of an art gallery. Some triptychs are made up of three carved panels, sometimes connected to each other with hinges. The Greek root word, triptykhos, "three-layered," comes from tri, which means "three," and ptykhos, "fold or layer" in Greek. A related artistic term is diptych, which means two panels.
Vocabulary lists containing triptych
The Last Last-Day-of-Summer
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Art History
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Shout
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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.
Queer desire, femininity, and lipstick form an intrepid triptych in the form of pop star Chappell Roan, whose persona betrays both her rural Missouri provenance and the glittery legacy of drag performance.
From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026
Lanthimos and Stone have now made four features together, though the three joke it’s more like six because “Kinds of Kindness” is a triptych.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2026
The director has reunited with Mr. Waits and Mr. Driver for the first and best part of his characteristic new film, the triptych “Father Mother Sister Brother.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025
In this triptych, Marat’s martyrdom is a muted centerpiece between grand hope and grander disaster.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025
Various tilts of the head to catch perspectives in triptych reassured her that her face was not too long, or not this evening.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
