English
triangulate
From Latin triangulum + -ate or Medieval Latin *triangulāt-, the past participial stem of *triangulō.
A compound of triangulum + *triangulāt-
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eng- ‘curve, bend’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂engulos
Proto-Italic *angulos
Latin angulus ‘an angle’
Latin triangulus ‘three-cornered, triangular’
Latin triangulum
Another origin of triangulate
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtriangulātus‘three-cornered’
- Englishtodaytriangulate
Today it means
verb To locate by means of triangulation.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “triangulate”. 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 / triangulate