Etymology

triphthong

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Today it means: A monosyllabic vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another that passes over a third one. Full definition →

Ancient Greek τρίφθογγος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromτρίφθογγος“triphthong, having three voices”
  2. English todaytriphthong

From the Ancient Greek τρίφθογγος (tríphthongos, “triphthong, having three voices”), from τρία (tría, “three”) + φθόγγος (phthóngos, “sound”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.