triptych

[trip-tik]

noun

1. Fine Arts.,  a set of three panels or compartments side by side, bearing pictures, carvings, or the like.

2. a hinged, three-leaved tablet, written on, in ancient times, with a stylus.

triptych

/ ˈtrɪptɪk /

noun

1. 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

2. a set of three hinged writing tablets

Word History and Origins

Origin of triptych¹

1725–35; < Greek tríptychos of three plates, equivalent to tri- tri- + ptych- (stem of ptýx ) plate + -os adj. suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of triptych¹

C18: from Greek triptukhos , from _tri- + ptux plate; compare _diptych

Example Sentences

A program interview with its authors indicates that the play was originally conceived by Mr. Glossman as a triptych drawing on three stories from Mr. Hanks’s 2017 collection of stories, “Uncommon Type.”

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The triptych will be auctioned on 3 December to raise money for new accommodation for Sherborne people.

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“Father Mother Sister Brother”: Jim Jarmusch’s latest, which took top prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is a triptych of familial drama, with different casts in each part.

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The finale of this Golden State triptych comes in a limited-run presentation of “Juana Maria,” the most recently written play of the three.

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You describe the three books as a triptych rather than a trilogy.

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Related Words

• threesome 
• trilogy 
• triumvirate