Etymograph

English

tierce

Tierce comes from Old French tierce, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *tri- ‘three, threefold’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tri-1‘three, threefold’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tritós1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tritios1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtertius2as tertia
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tierce2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1789tierce2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tertius
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tierce
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Olaudah Equiano: “He then gave me a large piece of silver…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tri-Wiktionary, Latin tertius‘three, threefold’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tritósWiktionary, Latin tertiusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tritiosWiktionary, Latin tertiusreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtertiusWiktionary, English tierceas tertia
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tierceWiktionary, English tierce
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1789tierceWiktionary, English tierce. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Olaudah Equiano: “He then gave me a large piece of silver…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tri- ‘three, threefold’

trial, triple, trillion, treble, trine, 11 more

through Latin tertius

tertiary, 10 more

Today it means

noun A third.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tierce”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tertius. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tri- / tierce

Shirt and support for this word