Triangle

How to spell triangle

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce triangle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does triangle mean?

1. nounA flat shape with three straight sides and three angles.
2. nounA percussion instrument made of a metal bar bent into a three-sided shape and struck with a small rod.

Triangle in a sentence

• The surveyor measured each side of the triangle before drawing the plan.

• In the orchestra she played the triangle during the festive overture.

• The children cut a paper triangle for their geometry homework.

• A single chime from the triangle marked the end of the verse.

Where does triangle come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin triangulum, meaning 'three-cornered figure', which combined tri- 'three' with angulus 'corner' or 'angle'. The Latin term was itself a translation of similar Greek geometric vocabulary used by early mathematicians. English took the word in through Old French triangle during the 1300s, when works of geometry and astronomy were being rendered into the vernacular. The angulus root, glossed as 'corner', also survives plainly in the everyday word 'angle', which is why the spelling keeps the same -angle ending. The tri- element is the same familiar prefix found in 'tripod', 'tricycle' and 'trio', so the whole word reads transparently as 'three angles'.

How the word is built

• tri- (three)
• angle (corner, from Latin angulus)