Etymology

folie à trois

Today it means: A form of shared psychotic disorder in which three individuals have the same or similar delusional beliefs, usually by transference. Full definition →

French folie à trois
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. French · derived fromfolie à trois“madness of three (people)”
  2. English todayfolie à trois

From French folie à trois (“madness of three (people)”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.