Trifurcous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Dividing into three separate forks or branches, as a stem, root or channel might do
2. Splitting into three prongs or divisions at a single point of separation
3. Characterized by a threefold division into branches that spread out from one origin

Etymology: "Trifurcous" means having three forks or branches, and it is built from two Latin parts. The first, "tri-", is the familiar number prefix meaning three, from Latin "tres". The second, "furcus", meant a fork, specifically a forked pole or the two-pronged prop a Roman would use to carry a load on the shoulder. English took the root in the form "furca", used for a forked support or a forked gallows-like device, and from it formed "furcate", meaning to divide into branches. "Trifurcous" is therefore simply the number prefix attached to that root, combined with the "-ous" adjective ending, giving the sense "three-pronged" or "splitting into three." It is a technical coinage in the scientific style of the 18th and 19th centuries, when naturalists and anatomists regularly built descriptive adjectives from Latin pieces to describe branching structures in plants, animals, and bodies. Such words were formed in English, not inherited from classical writers, so no ancient Roman ever described anything as "trifurcous" himself.

Synonyms: trifurcate, three-forked