triple-thrice

Is there a verb counterpart to “pair” when bringing together three things

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The word pair is used both as a noun a pair of gloves and a verb a cardigan paired with a matching shirt I believe the matching noun for three things is "trio", but is there a corresponding verb used for bringing together three things? To clarify, I’m looking for a word that applies to … Read more

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it twice, I’ve said it a thousand times

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I had a student moaning because I insisted he say twice and not "two times". And he asked "But why?" to which I replied, "Because that’s how you say it!" However on reflection, his question was a valid one. In Latin there doesn’t appear to be any discernible pattern once is semel twice is bis … Read more

Thrice or triple?

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There is a fairly well known recipe for Triple Cooked Chips. It involves cooking chips three different ways / times. Is triple cooked correct or should it be called Thrice Cooked Chips as they have been cooked three times? Answer Pretend it would concern the number two instead of three: Use thrice when you would … Read more

Why has the word “thrice” fallen out of common usage?

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I’m an American living in America, but my workplace has a lot of immigrants from India here. They all use “thrice” very commonly, which is wonderful to my ears! Thrice is such a delightful word. Today one of them said something happened “twice or thrice”, and it got me thinking that that usage would never … Read more

Is there a difference between “treble” and “triple”?

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I’ve been reading The Economist lately and noticed that the magazine uses both trebled and tripled. According to my dictionary, “treble” means “threefold; triple”. Is there a subtle difference, not captured by the dictionary entry? Some examples, “trebled”: The Economist’s index of non-oil commodity prices has trebled in the past decade. The number of companies … Read more

Once/twice/thrice vs one/two/three times

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Is there a difference in nuance when using once, twice or thrice instead of one time, two times or three times, especially when counting occurrences? It has happened twice before. It has happened two times before. Are they always interchangeable? What about other usages (e.g. when comparing magnitude)? The blue book is twice as heavy … Read more

Is “triple” the proper counterpart of pair when describing a group of three items?

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I’m writing a tech doc and this question bothers me, though I know it should be simple. I know I should say “A pair of [Key, Value]”, but when I have something like “A ____ of [Key, Value, Flag]”, I’m just not sure if the proper word is triple, or something else. Is triple often … Read more