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Origin and history of triple

triple(v.)

"make thrice as much," 1540s, from Medieval Latin triplare "to triple," from Latin triplus "threefold, triple" (see triple (adj.)). Related: Tripled, which is attested by early 15c. as "threefold"; tripling.

also from 1540s

triple(adj.)

"threefold, consisting of three, three times repeated," late 12c., from Old French triple or directly from Latin triplus "threefold, triple," from tri- "three" (see tri-) + -plus "-fold" (see -plus).

As a noun, early 15c., "a triple sum or quantity," from the adjective; the baseball sense of "three-base hit" is attested by 1880. Related: Triply (adv.). Triple-decker is from 1940 of sandwiches and wedding cakes, 1942 of beds.

also from late 12c.

Entries linking to triple

treble(adj.)

late 13c., "threefold, composed of three like elements or parts;" c. 1300, "three times, triple;" from Old French treble (12c.), from Latin triplus "threefold" (see triple). In harmonic music, "pertaining to the highest part," by mid-15c. Related: Trebly; trebleness; treblefold "three times as many" (late 14c.).

triplet(n.)

1650s, "three successive lines of poetry," from triple; perhaps patterned on couplet.

Extended to any set, collection, or combination of three by 1733, and to three children at the same birth by 1787, a use still marked "colloquial" in late 19c. dictionaries. Another word for this was trin, 1831, on the model of twin; Blount (1656) has tergeminous "threefold, triple," as a noun "one of the three born at the same time."

The musical meaning "three notes played in the time of two" is from 1801.

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