ternary
English
Etymology
From Late Latin ternārius (“consisting of three things”), from ternī (“three each”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtɜː.nə.ɹi/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɝ.nə.ɹi/
- Homophone: ternery
Adjective
ternary (not comparable)
- Made up of three things.
- Arranged in groups of three.
- (arithmetic) To the base three.
- Synonym: trinary
- 1999, Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, 3rd edition, volume 2, →ISBN, page 207:
- Perhaps the prettiest number system of all is the balanced ternary notation
- (arithmetic) Having three variables.
- (chemistry) Containing, or consisting of, three different parts, as elements, atoms, groups, or radicals, which are regarded as having different functions or relations in the molecule.
- Sodic hydroxide, NaOH, is a ternary compound.
- (programming) Of an operator taking three operands.
- An "if…then…else" construction is called a ternary operator when it is combined in one line of a program.
Derived terms
- biternary
- ternary alloy
- ternary code
- ternary complex
- ternary compound
- ternary computer
- ternary diagram
- ternary expansion
- ternary form
- ternary Golay code
- ternary Golay conjecture
- ternary incremental representation
- ternary logarithm
- ternary logic
- ternary name
- ternary notation
- ternary numeral system
- ternary operation
- ternary operator
- ternary plot
- ternary pulse code modulation
- ternary quantic
- ternary search
- ternary search tree
- ternary signal
- ternary system
- ternary tree
Translations
Made up of three things
Arranged in group of three
Mathematics: To the base three
Mathematics: Having three variables
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
ternary (plural ternaries)
- A group of three things; a trio, threesome or tierce.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trio
- (obsolete) The Holy Trinity.
- 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface:
- And albeit these thynges be waighty and truthes of great importance, yet (by the infinite goodnes of the Almighty Ternarie,) Artificiall Methods and easy wayes are made, by which the zelous Philosopher, may wyn nere this Riuerish Ida, this Mountayne of Contemplation […] .
- 1570, John Dee, in H. Billingsley (trans.) Euclid, Elements of Geometry, Preface:
Anagrams
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