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• triton
  triton

  noun

  a positively-charged particle consisting of a proton and two neutrons, equivalent to the nucleus of an atom of tritium.
• Triton
  Triton

  noun

  a son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, represented as having the head and trunk of a man and the tail of a fish, and as using a conch-shell trumpet.

triton

¹ American  

[trahy-ton] / ˈtraɪ tɒn /

noun

Physics.

1. a positively-charged particle consisting of a proton and two neutrons, equivalent to the nucleus of an atom of tritium.

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Triton ² American  

[trahyt-n] / ˈtraɪt n /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, represented as having the head and trunk of a man and the tail of a fish, and as using a conch-shell trumpet.

2. Astronomy. a moon of Neptune.

3. (lowercase) any of various marine gastropods of the family Cymatiidae, having a large, spiral, often beautifully colored shell.

4. (lowercase) the shell of a triton.

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Triton ¹ British  

/ ˈtraɪtən /

noun

1. a sea god, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, depicted as having the upper parts of a man with a fish's tail and holding a trumpet made from a conch shell

2. one of a class of minor sea deities

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Triton ² British  

/ ˈtraɪtən /

noun

1. the largest satellite of the planet Neptune. Diameter: 2700 km

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triton ³ British  

/ ˈtraɪtən /

noun

1. any of various chiefly tropical marine gastropod molluscs of the genera Charonia , Cymatium , etc, having large beautifully-coloured spiral shells

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triton ⁴ British  

/ ˈtraɪtɒn /

noun

1. physics a nucleus of an atom of tritium, containing two neutrons and one proton

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Other Word Forms

• Tritonic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of triton

1930–35; < Greek tríton, neuter of trítos third, equivalent to trí- tri- + -ton neuter adj. suffix; cf. -on ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

triton Triton

The bird was either a yellow-crested or a triton cockatoo, she said, meaning it most likely came from northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, or islands off Indonesia.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2018

Ships teem around the Arsenale while a colossal triton rides a sea monster at the mouth of the Grand Canal – the real marries the fabulous as Venice is wedded to the sea.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 23, 2010

By relentlessly hunting for a rare trumpet-shaped mollusk called the giant triton, some scientists say, shell collectors have taken a devastating toll of one of the crown-of-thorns' few natural enemies.

From Time Magazine Archive

O would that we had met When I had my burning youth; But I grow old among dreams, A weather-worn, marble triton Among the streams.

From The Wild Swans at Coole by W. B. (William Butler) Yeats

The women of the Marina ran away as terrified as those Greek princesses on the painted vases when surprised, washing their robes, by the apparition of a passionate triton.

From Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) A Novel by Charlotte Brewster Jordan

When the researchers added a surfactant chemical called Triton X100, it eliminated ROS production.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

SLB is buying Kelvion from funds managed by Apollo, the majority owner, as well as funds advised by Triton.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

"If you bring Triton in, and you smash up your large moons, we think only 1 percent or so of that material stayed around in the system," Davis says.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

In 2022, the US Treasury said that Triton was being used by a sanctioned Russian oil magnate - Viktor Artemov - to facilitate a global "oil smuggling network".

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2025

The Triton pond rose before them, an inky mass whose complicated outline was honed against a sky turning greener as the light fell.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

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