triangle

See also: Triangle

English

A regular triangle, the geometric shape.

A triangle, the musical instrument.

The triangles, a whipping post formed by three poles.

Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes

From Middle English triangle, from Old French triangle, from Latin triangulum, noun use of adjective triangulus (“three-cornered, having three angles”), from trēs (“three”) + angulus (“corner, angle”), equivalent to tri- +‎ angle.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaɪəŋɡəl/, /ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/
• (US) enPR: trī'-ăng-gəl, IPA^(key): /ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪæŋɡəl
• Hyphenation: tri‧an‧gle

Noun

triangle (plural triangles)

2. (geometry) A polygon with three sides and three angles.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 22:

     The wedge-shaped character was the triangle, the archaic Paleolithic sign of the vulva; the pubic triangle was at the end of the phallic stylus.

3. (US, Canada) A set square.
4. (music) A percussion instrument made by forming a metal rod into a triangular shape which is open at one angle. It is suspended from a string and hit with a metal bar to make a resonant sound.
5. (cue sports) A triangular piece of equipment used for gathering the balls into the formation required by the game being played.
6. A love triangle.
   • 2009, Neil McDonald, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 104:

     One of the writers' most pleasing inventions was to treat the triangle love story as comedy.

7. (systemics) The structure of systems composed with three interrelated objects.
8. A draughtsman's square in the form of a right-angled triangle.
9. (historical, usually in the plural) A frame formed of three poles stuck in the ground and united at the top, to which people were bound when undergoing corporal punishment.
   • 1868, “The Week”, in The Nation‎^[1], volume 6, number 149:

     But nothing is said as to what we are to do with the negro when we have cut him off from absolute dominion; we are not informed if we may spread him on the triangles as aforetime;

10. Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Graphium.

    Synonym: bluebottle

11. (rail transport) A triangular formation of railway tracks, with a curve on at least one side.
    • 1961 March, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 147:

      After turning on the triangle at Jeumont, we set off light engine back to Aulnoye.

    Synonym: wye

Synonyms

• (polygon): threeside, trigon (rare)
• (love triangle): love triangle, menage à trois
• See also Thesaurus:triangle
• See also △ (symbol)

Derived terms

• acute-angled triangle
• acute triangle
• anal triangle
• anterior triangle
• anti-triangle
• Bermuda Triangle
• black triangle
• Brocard triangle
• Calot's triangle
• Cape triangle
• carotid triangle
• circular triangle
• color triangle
• colour triangle
• combustion triangle
• cyclic triangle
• cystohepatic triangle
• Devil's Triangle
• devil's triangle
• equilateral triangle
• eternal triangle
• femoral triangle
• fire triangle
• Floyd's triangle
• Gergonne triangle
• Golden Triangle
• golden triangle
• Goualougo Triangle
• Harberger's triangle
• Harberger triangle
• hepatobiliary triangle
• hepatocystic triangle
• ideal triangle
• iron triangle
• isosceles triangle
• Kanizsa triangle
• Karpman drama triangle
• Koch's triangle
• Lenné Triangle
• love triangle
• Morley triangle
• North Atlantic Triangle
• obtuse-angled triangle
• obtuse triangle
• Pascal's triangle
• Penrose triangle
• pink triangle
• Polynesian Triangle
• posterior triangle
• pubic triangle
• purple triangle
• Pythagorean triangle
• red triangle slug
• Reuleaux triangle
• right-angled triangle
• right triangle
• scalene triangle
• Scarpa's triangle
• set triangle
• Sierpinski triangle
• sight triangle
• spherical triangle
• star-triangle relation
• sternocostal triangle
• Sunni Triangle
• superior carotid triangle
• tangential triangle
• triangle choke
• triangle-free
• triangle group
• triangle inequality
• triangle offense
• triangle of life
• triangle piercing
• triangle pose
• triangle spider
• triangle test
• triangle wave
• trianglist
• triangular
• triangular distribution
• triangular function
• triangular prism
• triangulate
• triangulation
• unified rear triangle
• van Arkel–Ketelaar triangle
• warning triangle
• work triangle

Translations

polygon

• Afrikaans: driehoek (af)
• Albanian: trekëndësh (sq) m
• Amharic: ሶስት ማእዘን (sost maʾzän)
• Arabic: مُثَلَّث m (muṯallaṯ)
• Aragonese: trianglo
• Armenian: եռանկյուն (hy) (eṙankyun)
• Assamese: ত্রিভুজ
• Asturian: triángulu m
• Aymara: mujina
• Azerbaijani: üçbucaq (az)
• Bashkir: өсмөйөш (ösmöyöş)
• Basque: hiruki
• Belarusian: трохку́тнік m (troxkútnik)
• Bengali: ত্রিভুজ (bn) (tribhuj), ত্রিকোণ (bn) (trikōn), তেকোনা (bn) (tekōna)
• Bulgarian: триъ́гълник (bg) m (triǎ́gǎlnik)
• Burmese: တြိဂံ (my) (tri.gam)
• Catalan: triangle (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 三角 (zh) (sānjiǎo), 三角形 (zh) (sānjiǎoxíng)

• Corsican: triangulu
• Czech: trojúhelník (cs) m
• Danish: trekant (da) c
• Dutch: driehoek (nl) m
• Egyptian: (spdt f)
• Esperanto: triangulo, trilatero
• Estonian: kolmnurk (et)
• Faroese: tríhyrningur m
• Finnish: kolmio (fi)
• French: triangle (fr) m
• Friulian: triangul m
• Galician: triángulo (gl) m
• Georgian: სამკუთხედი (samḳutxedi)
• German: Dreieck (de) n

  Rhine Franconian: ^{(please verify)} Draiegg (Palatine)

• Greek: τρίγωνο (el) n (trígono)

  Ancient: τρίγωνον n (trígōnon)

• Gujarati: ત્રિકોણ (trikoṇ)
• Haitian Creole: triyang
• Hebrew: משולש \ מְשֻׁלָּשׁ (he) m (meshulásh)
• Hindi: त्रिकोण (hi) m (trikoṇ), त्रिभुज (hi) m (tribhuj)
• Hungarian: háromszög (hu)
• Icelandic: þríhyrningur (is) m
• Ido: triangulo (io)
• Indonesian: segitiga (id)
• Ingrian: kolminurkkain
• Irish: triantán (ga) m
• Italian: triangolo (it) m
• Japanese: 三角 (ja) (さんかく, sankaku), 三角形 (ja) (さんかくけい, sankakukei)
• Javanese: segi telu
• Kalmyk: һурвлҗн (ğurvljn), һурвн булңт (ğurvn bulñt)
• Kannada: ತ್ರಿಕೋನ (kn) (trikōna)
• Kashubian: trzënórt m
• Kazakh: үшбұрыш (kk) (üşbūryş), үшкіл (üşkıl), үштаған (üştağan)
• Khmer: ត្រីកោណ (km) (trəykaon)
• Korean: 삼각(三角) (ko) (samgak), 삼각형(三角形) (ko) (samgakhyeong), 세모 (ko) (semo)
• Kumyk: уьчмююшлюк (üçmüyuşlük), уьч буччакълыкъ (üç buççaqlıq)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سێگۆشە (sêgoşe)

  Northern Kurdish: sêgoşe (ku)

• Kyrgyz: үч бурчтук (üc burctuk), үчбурч (ücburc)
• Ladin: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ສາມແຈ (sām chǣ), ສາມຫຼ່ຽມ (sām līam)
• Latin: triangulum n
• Latvian: trīsstūris m
• Ligurian: triàngolo m
• Limburgish: driehook (li)
• Lingala: mbata-isáto
• Lithuanian: trikampis m
• Lombard: triàngol
• Macedonian: триа́голник m (triágolnik)
• Malay: segi tiga (ms), segi telu
• Manx: troorane
• Maori: tapatoru
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: гурвалжин (mn) (gurvalžin)

• Moore: kog-tãabga
• Narom: trian
• Navajo: tááʼgóó yistłʼah, táaʼgo heetsʼóóz, táaʼgo deezʼá, tááʼgóó adeezʼá
• Northern Sami: golmmačiegat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trekant (no) m

  Nynorsk: trekant m

• Occitan: triangle (oc)
• Oromo: rog-sadee
• Pashto: درې څنډى m (dre cᶕnḍay), مثلث m (mosalas), تکون m (tekun)
• Persian: مثلث (fa) (mosalas), سه‌گوش (se-guš), سه‌گوشه (se-guše)
• Piedmontese: triàngol m
• Polish: trójkąt (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: triângulo (pt) m
• Quechua: kimsak'uchu
• Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: triunghi (ro) n
• Russian: треуго́льник (ru) m (treugólʹnik)
• Samogitian: trėkompis
• Sanskrit: त्रिकोण (sa) m (trikoṇa)
• Scottish Gaelic: trì-cheàrnag f, trì-oinnsinneach m, trì-oisinneag f, triantan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тро̏кӯт m (Croatia), троугао m

  Roman: trȍkūt (sh) m (Croatia), trougao m

• Shona: gonyonhatu
• Sicilian: triàngulu (scn) m
• Slovak: trojuholník (sk) m
• Slovene: trikotnik (sl) m
• Somali: saddax-xagal
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tśirožk m

• Southern Altai: ӱчтолук (üčtoluk)
• Spanish: triángulo (es) m
• Sundanese: juru tilu
• Swahili: pembetatu
• Swedish: triangel (sv) c, trekant (sv) c, trehörning (sv) c
• Tagalog: triyanggulo, tatsulok (tl), tilasitha
• Tajik: секунҷа (sekunja), сегӯша (següša), мусаллас (musallas) (literary)
• Tamil: முக்கோணம் (ta) (mukkōṇam)
• Tatar: өчпочмак (tt) (öçpoçmaq)
• Tày: slam cooc
• Telugu: త్రిభుజము (te) (tribhujamu), త్రికోణము (te) (trikōṇamu)
• Thai: สามเหลี่ยม (th) (sǎam-lìiam)
• Tibetan: གྲུ་གསུམ (gru gsum), ཟུར་གསུམ (zur gsum)
• Turkish: üçgen (tr), üçbucak, müselles (tr) (obsolete)
• Turkmen: üçburçluk
• Tuvan: үш-бүлүңчүк (üş-bülüñçük)
• Ukrainian: трику́тник (uk) m (trykútnyk)
• Urdu: مُثَلَّث (ur) m (musallas)
• Uyghur: ئۈچ بۇلۇڭ (üch bulung)
• Uzbek: uchburchak (uz), musallas (uz) (dated)
• Venetan: triangoło
• Vietnamese: tam giác (vi), hình tam giác (vi)
• Volapük: killien (vo)
• Waray-Waray: trayanggulo
• Welsh: triongl (cy) m or f
• West Flemish: drieoek
• West Frisian: trijehoek c
• Yakut: үс муннук (üs munnuk)
• Yiddish: דרײַעק m (drayek)
• Yoruba: anígunmẹ́ta
• Zazaki: hirequnc, hirguş, hirdag
• Zulu: unxantathu class 1a/2a

percussion instrument

• Afrikaans: driehoek (af)
• Asturian: triángulu m
• Bulgarian: триъ́гълник (bg) m (triǎ́gǎlnik), триа́нгел m (triángel)
• Catalan: triangle (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 三角鐵 / 三角铁 (zh) (sānjiǎotiě)

• Czech: triangl (cs) m
• Danish: triangel (da) c
• Dutch: triangel (nl) m
• Esperanto: triangulo
• Finnish: triangeli (fi)
• French: triangle (fr) m
• Galician: triángulo (gl) m, ferriños m pl
• German: Triangel (de) f
• Greek: τρίγωνο (el) n (trígono)

  Ancient: τρίγωνον n (trígōnon)

• Hebrew: משולש \ מְשֻׁלָּשׁ (he) m (meshulásh)
• Hungarian: triangulum (hu)
• Icelandic: þríhorn n
• Irish: triantán (ga) m
• Italian: triangolo (it) m
• Japanese: トライアングル (ja) (toraianguru)
• Korean: 트라이앵글 (teuraiaenggeul)
• Malay: kerincing
• Polish: trójkąt (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: triângulo (pt) m, ferrinhos m pl
• Romanian: trianglu (ro) n
• Russian: треуго́льник (ru) m (treugólʹnik)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тро̏кӯт m (Croatia), троугао m

  Roman: trȍkūt (sh) m (Croatia), trougao m

• Slovak: triangel
• Slovene: triangel (sl) m
• Spanish: triángulo (es) m
• Swedish: triangel (sv) c
• Tagalog: batingting
• Thai: สามเหลี่ยม (th) (sǎam-lìiam)
• Vietnamese: kẻng tam giác, kẻng ba góc
• Welsh: triongl (cy) m or f

love triangle — see love triangle

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Breton: ^{(please verify)} tric'horn (br) m (1)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} segitiga (id)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} triangulum n (1)

Further reading

• Triangle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Triangle (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Triangle (instrument) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• INTEGRAL, alerting, altering, integral, relating, tanglier, teraglin

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin triangulum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [tɾiˈaŋ.ɡlə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [tɾiˈaŋ.ɡle]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

triangle m (plural triangles)

1. (geometry) triangle
2. (music) triangle

Related terms

• triangular

Further reading

• “triangle” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “triangle”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “triangle” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “triangle” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin triangulum. By surface analysis, tri- +‎ angle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁi.jɑ̃ɡl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

triangle m (plural triangles)

1. (geometry) triangle (polygon)

   triangle équilatéral ― equilateral triangle

   triangle isocèle ― isosceles triangle

2. (music) triangle (percussion instrument)

Derived terms

• triangle amoureux
• triangle de sécurité
• triangulaire

Further reading

• “triangle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• intégral