Triplicates

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A method of creating three identical copies of an item denotes the process of producing simultaneously threefold duplicates of any entity
2. Systematic replication of an original item in three instances indicates that the copies have been generated in triplicate form
3. Producing three identical versions of something signifies the act of duplicating an original item in a manner that results in three simultaneous copies

Etymology: "Triplicates" is the plural of "triplicate", used here as a noun for copies made in threes or the act of making them. The root goes back to Latin "triplicare", meaning "to triple", built from "tri-" ("three") and "plicare" ("to fold"). The image is of paper folded over itself, so that one sheet becomes three layers or three matching pages. English adopted the adjective form in the early 15th century, and its meaning stayed close to the Latin: tripled, or consisting of three parts. The noun sense of a set of three identical copies came later, which is why the word still carries the feel of a document being multiplied rather than an abstract quantity. Its closest relative is "duplicate", which follows the same pattern with "duo" ("two") in place of "tri-". English speakers modeled "triplicate" on that older word, so the two words share both their structure and their sense of making matching copies.

Synonyms: threefolds, threes, triplet, trio, trinity

Antonyms: singles, duplicates, pairs, few, none