Trident

How to spell trident

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce trident

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does trident mean?

1. nounA spear or fork with three prongs, especially the one associated with sea gods or fishing.

Trident in a sentence

• The statue of the sea god clutched a bronze trident above the harbour.

• The museum displayed an ancient fishing trident recovered from the seabed.

Where does trident come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin tridens, the genitive of which is tridentis, meaning literally 'three-toothed' or 'three-pronged'. It was built from tri-, meaning 'three', joined to dens, meaning 'tooth', the very same root that gives English 'dental' and 'dentist'. In Roman usage the tridens named the three-pronged spear carried by the sea god Neptune (the Greek Poseidon), as well as the fork wielded by fishermen and by the net-and-trident gladiators of the arena. English adopted the word in the early 1600s, keeping the Latin spelling almost untouched, which is why the silent logic of 'three teeth' still sits inside it. Remembering that the middle of the word is the 'dent' of 'dental' helps fix the spelling, since the prongs really are like teeth.

How the word is built

• tri- (three)
• dent (from Latin dens, dentis: tooth)