Etymograph

English

tre-

Tre- comes from Latin trēs ‘three’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tréyes1‘three’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trejes1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trēs1‘three’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrēs2‘three’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1999tre-2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tres
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tre-
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1999, Clive Tooth, Could anyone tell me how to say this number?: “five trequinquagintillion, nine hundred fifty eight doquinquagintillion, nine hundred…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tréyesWiktionary, Latin tres‘three’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trejesWiktionary, Latin tresreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trēsWiktionary, Latin tres‘three’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrēsWiktionary, English tre-‘three’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1999tre-Wiktionary, English tre-. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1999, Clive Tooth, Could anyone tell me how to say this number?: “five trequinquagintillion, nine hundred fifty eight doquinquagintillion, nine hundred…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tréyes ‘three’

three, tri, tern, troika, 11 more

through Latin trēs ‘three’

distribution, contribute, tribute, tribe, tribal, tribunal, trinity, trio, tribune, trey, tres, triplex, 9 more

Today it means

prefix Used for forming names of large numbers as the third in the sequence in the Conway–Guy system.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tre-”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tres. 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 *tréyes / tre-

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