Triplicit

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Consisting of three parts or existing in a threefold form, as an old term for something made up of three united elements
2. Made up of three distinct components or arranged in a set of three, a rare and archaic way of describing triple structure
3. Having a triple nature or composed of three joined elements, used in older English to describe a threefold arrangement

Etymology: Its core is a fold. Latin "triplex" meant "threefold," built from "tri-" (three) and "plex," from the verb "plicare," "to fold." The same root gives English "complicate," "multiply," and "implicit," all of which carry the sense of folding things together or over. So a triple thing was, literally, something folded three times. "Triplicit" is a rare English form, most likely a shortened variant of "triplicity," which came into English through Old French "triplicité" from Late Latin "triplicitas." Its most specialized use came in astrology, where "triplicity" named a group of three zodiac signs sharing the same element. Each of the four elements governs one such trio, so the sense of threefold grouping stayed attached to the term. Outside that context, the adjective mostly means "threefold" or "triple," and it is seldom met in modern writing.