triviality
Meaningthe state or quality of being of the three roads
Common meaning: the quality of being trivial
- trithree
- via road, wayLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1984 · scan
- aladjective ending: relating to
- itynoun ending: being so, the quality of
‘three’ + ‘a road, way’ → triviality
Journey through time
- Latinvia‘a road, way’
- Frenchtrivial
- Englishtrivial‘unimportant (from a crossroads of three ways)’
- Englishformed in English from trivialtriviality‘the quality of being trivial’ · today
Sources & notes
Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: the state or quality of being of the three roads. It can be inferred from any of: trivial, nontrivial.
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from trivial + -ity (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).
Roots
- via Latin “a road, way”
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