# three
## Translingual

* Signal flag for the digit 3

### Alternative forms

* Three, THREE

### Etymology

Borrowed from English three.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtri], like tree

### Noun

three
* (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 3.
    Synonym: terrathree (ITU/IMO)
ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codes :
| Alfa | Bravo | Charlie | Delta | Echo | Foxtrot | Golf | Hotel | India | Juliett | Kilo | Lima | Mike |
| November | Oscar | Papa | Quebec | Romeo | Sierra | Tango | Uniform | Victor | Whiskey | Xray | Yankee | Zulu |
| zero | one | two | three (tree) | four (fower) | five (fife) | six | seven | eight | nine (niner) | hundred | thousand | decimal |
ICAO/NATO vs ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codes for digits :
| ICAO/NATO | zero | one | two | three (tree) | four (fower) | five (fife) | six | seven | eight | nine (niner) |
| ITU/IMO | nadazero | unaone | bissotwo | terrathree | kartefour | pantafive | soxisix | setteseven | oktoeight | novenine |

### References

* ↑ Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status‎, 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, 2001 October, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

## English
### Alternative forms

* thre, þree, threy, thrie (all obsolete)

### Etymology

* PIE word
* *tréyes
From Middle English thre, threo, thrie, thri, from Old English þrī, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. Doublet of tres and trey.
Cognate with German drei, Albanian tre, Armenian երեք (erekʻ), Latin trēs, Latvian trīs, Lithuanian trỹs, Greek τρεῖς (treîs), Old Church Slavonic трьѥ (trĭje), and others.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thrē IPA: /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː], [θɾ̪̊ɪi], [θɹ̥ɪi]
* (UK, th-fronting) enPR: frē IPA: /fɹiː/
* (Ireland) IPA: /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊iː], [t̪ɾ̪̊iː]
* (General American) enPR: thrē IPA: /θɹiː/, [θɾ̪̊i], [θɹ̥i], [θɹi]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Homophones: tree (th-stopping); free (th-fronting)
* Rhymes: -iː

### Numeral

three
* A numerical value after two and before four. Represented in Arabic digits as 3; this many dots (•••).
** 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.
** 1995, Nancy Berliner, Sarah Handler, Friends of the House‎, →ISBN, page 79:There is a soft-mat seat (which originally had a palm fiber underwebbing) supported by three curved transverse braces.
** 2003 April 7, Michelle Lamoreaux, Robert Lamoreaux, “A Spy is Born Part II”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 1, spoken by Clover (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Andrea Taylor), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:Okay, on three, we open the door and jump on the rope. One, two… Wait, wait! Do we go on three? Or do we go on “go”? Three! Who said anything about “go”?
** 2011 October 18, Paul Dini, Paul Crocker, Sefton Hill, Batman: Arkham City, spoken by Joker thugs, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:Why should she care? One…two… Do we shoot on three? Yes on three. Like one, two, three, shoot.
* Describing a set or group with three elements.

#### Synonyms

* (numerical value): leash, tether (dialectal)

#### Related terms

* third, thrice, triple

#### See also

* Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

### Noun

three (plural threes)
* The digit/figure 3.
* Anything measuring three units, as length.
    Put all the threes in a separate container.
* A person who is three years old.
    All the threes will go in Mrs. Smith's class, while I'll take the fours and fives.
* The playing card featuring three pips.
* Three o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
** 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Three Investigators Come across a Dark Soul”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three.
* (basketball) Abbreviation of three-pointer.

#### Derived terms

* bad things come in threes
* big three
* clogs to clogs in three generations
* common three-ring
* count to three
* couple three
* couple-three
* easy as one two three
* Eurasian three-toed woodpecker
* fish and company stink after three days
* good things come in threes
* grade three
* in three days
* less than three
* logo three
* match-three game
* meat and three
* me three
* northern three-toed jerboa
* number three
* one-two-three
* page three girl
* page-three girl
* phony as a three-dollar bill
* purple three-awn grass
* ride the three-legged mare
* rising three
* rule of three
* shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations
* six and two threes
* Tate's three-striped dasyure
* thirteen
* Three Amigos
* three-and-out
* threeawn
* three-bagger
* three-ball
* three-banded courser
* three-banded grasshopper
* three-banded warbler
* three body problem
* three-bottle man
* Three Bridges
* three card brag
* three-card marney
* three-card monte
* three-card shuffle
* three-card trick
* three-card trickster
* three-center two-electron bond
* three cheers
* Three Cocks
* three-cornered
* three-cornered jack
* Three Crosses
* three-cueing
* three day eventing
* three-day fever
* three-day measles
* three days ago
* three-day sickness
* three day sickness
* three-decker
* three-dimensional
* three-dimensionality
* three-dimensionally
* three-dog night
* three dog night
* three-eighths
* three eighths
* three-fifths
* three fifths
* three figures
* threefin
* three-finger salute
* three fires
* Threefish
* three-fisted
* threefold
* three-forked
* three fourths
* three-fourths
* three-four time
* three fries short of a Happy Meal
* three Fs
* three green
* three G's
* three guys in a garage
* three halfpence
* three halfpennies
* three-headed
* three-high
* three-hole punch
* three-horned
* three hots and a cot
* three hundred
* three-hundredth
* three-in-hand
* three-in-oneness
* threeish
* three kings' cake
* Three Kings Islands
* three L
* three-legged
* three-legged mare
* three-legged race
* three letter agency
* three-letter agency
* three-line whip
* threeling
* three-lips
* three marks of existence
* three-martini lunch
* three-men-in-a-boat
* three-milk cake
* three-minute warning
* three musketeers
* threenager
* three-name
* Threeness
* threeness
* Three Oaks
* three o'clock
* three-of-a-kind
* three of a kind
* three-on-the-tree
* three-parent
* three-party system
* threepeat
* three-peat
* threepence
* threepenny
* three per cents
* three-phase
* three-piece suit
* three-piece suite
* three-pile
* three-pipe problem
* threeplex
* three-ply
* three-point landing
* three-point line
* three-point shot
* three-point turn
* three poisons
* three-pounder
* three-pronged
* three-quarter
* three-quarter back
* three-quarter bathroom
* three-quarter brother
* three-quarter coat
* three quarters
* three-quarters
* three-quarter sibling
* three-quarter sister
* three-quarter time
* three-quarter-time
* three quarter-time
* three quarter time
* three quartertime
* three-quartertime
* threequel
* three-revert rule
* three-ring
* three-ring circus
* three ring circus
* Three Rivers
* three Rs
* three R's
* threescore
* three score and fifth
* three score and ten
* three-second rule
* three seconds rule
* three-sheet
* three sheets
* three sheets in the wind
* three sheets to the wind
* threeside
* threesies
* three sisters
* three skips of a louse
* threesome
* three-space
* three-spined stickleback
* three-spine stickleback
* three-spot seahorse
* three-square
* three squares
* three stars
* three-step snake
* three stops short of Dagenham
* three strikes and you're out
* three-strikes law
* three-striped ground squirrel
* three-striped palm civet
* three-tap
* threeteen
* threeth
* three thousand
* three-tiered
* three-time loser
* three times a charm
* three time's a charm
* three times three
* three-toed box turtle
* three-toed sloth
* three-toed woodpecker
* three togethers
* three true outcomes
* three-up
* threevee
* three-vee
* threeven
* threeway
* three-way
* three-way girl
* three-way switch
* three-wheel
* three-wheeled
* three-wheeler
* three wise men
* thrinter
* throdd
* throuple
* thruppence
* two's company and three is none

#### See also

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text) :
| ace | deuce, two | three | four | five | six | seven |
| eight | nine | ten | jack, knave | queen | king | joker |
* Amharic numerals: ፫
* Arabic numerals: 3
* Assyro-Babylonian numerals: 𒁹𒁹𒁹
* Bengali numerals: ৩
* Chinese numerals: 叄, 三
* Eastern Arabic numerals: ٣
* Gujarati numerals: ૩
* Gurmukhi numerals: ੩
* Hindi numerals: ३
* Kannada numerals: ೩
* Khmer numerals: ៣
* Lao numerals: ໓
* Limbu numerals: ᥉
* Malayalam numerals: ൩
* Mongolian numerals: ᠓
* Myanmar numerals: ၃
* Odia numerals: ୩
* Persian numerals: ۳
* Roman numerals: III
* Tamil numerals: ௩
* Telugu numerals: ౩
* Thai numerals: ๓
* Tibetan numerals: ༣

### Anagrams

* Ehret, Ether, Reeth, ether, rethe, theer, there

## Manx
### Numeral

three
* Alternative spelling of tree.

## Scots
### Alternative forms

* (South Scots) threi, hrei

### Etymology

From Middle English thre, from Old English þriē, þrī, þreō, from Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ, from Proto-Germanic *þrīz, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /θriː/
* (Southern Scots) IPA: /θrəi/
* (Shetland) IPA: /triː/

### Numeral

three
* three

### References

* “three, adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
* “three, num.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 21 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.