Tricolon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rhetorical device in which three parallel clauses or phrases of similar length and structure are arranged in sequence for emphasis
2. A figure of speech built from three matching grammatical units placed side by side to create rhythm and force
3. An ordered triad of parallel phrases or clauses used in oratory and writing to give weight and cadence to a statement

Etymology: Tricolon is a rhetorical device, and its name is built from two Greek pieces that describe its shape. The Greek "trikolon" was the neuter form of "trikolos," meaning "having three parts," and it combined "tri-," three, with "kolon," a limb or clause. Greek writers used "kolon" for a unit of a sentence, a clause or phrase that could be measured by breath or by its length, so a tricolon is literally a three-membered clause group. English took the word directly from Greek as a learned borrowing, not through Latin or French. The Latin "colon" was itself borrowed from the same Greek "kolon," which explains why the English word "colon," the punctuation mark, shares the same root. The punctuation mark got its name because it marked a clause-like unit of a sentence, so a tricolon and a colon are cousins from the same rhetorical idea of sentence sections.

Synonyms: triad, tricolon crescens