trio
Pluraltrios
- 1A group of three people or things considered together as a unit.
Like a three-legged stool: steady only while all three stay in place.
The negotiating committee was a trio of seasoned diplomats.
Two trios of researchers pursued competing solutions to the problem.
Similarthreesome, triad, troika
Note
Every other sense of trio grows from this general one. English borrowed the word from Italian in the early eighteenth century, and it goes back to the Indo-European root for "three". It usually takes of and a plural noun, as in a trio of desserts. In sports and news writing it names three people acting together, like an attacking trio of forwards.
- 2A group of three musicians who perform together as an ensemble.
A string trio opened the evening's program.
Several trios auditioned for the orchestra's chamber series.
- 3A piece of music written for three musicians to perform together.
She wrote a trio for clarinet, viola, and piano.
The quartet also performs several trios from the Classical period.
Note
Chamber music names its trios by their instruments: a string trio, a piano trio, a baryton trio. The parts may be instrumental or vocal, and each player carries a distinct line. The same word also names the three performers, so "the trio was beautiful" can praise either the piece or the players. Context decides which one is meant.
- 4A passage in the middle of a minuet, frequently set in a different key from the surrounding sections.
The minuet's trio shifts into the relative minor before the opening returns.
Composers often gave the trio a lighter scoring than the dance around it.
Note
The name comes from the old practice of scoring this middle section in three parts, and it survives as the label for the section itself. The same section appears in the scherzo. The whole movement is called a minuet and trio: the dance, the contrast, then the opening dance played again da capo. Here trio marks a place in a form, not a number of players.
- 5A cocktail made with a spirit, a liqueur, and a creamy ingredient combined together.
The bartender shook a trio with brandy, coffee liqueur, and cream.
Dessert menus often list trios alongside other after-dinner drinks.
- 6A fast-food dish that combines three items (commonly fries, fried rice, and curry sauce) in a single serving.
The takeout shop is famous for its late-night trio.
They split a couple of trios after the match.
Note
This is a takeaway-counter word. The same box is also sold as a three-in-one, and the two names can be used interchangeably on a menu or at the counter. As with the general sense, the number in the name simply counts the items served together in one portion.
Practice
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Origin
Borrowed around 1715-25 from Italian "trio," which traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *tréyes.