Where does “trivalent” come from?
Trivalent comes from Latin tri- meaning three, from Latin tres, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European tréyes meaning three.
trivalent (English): Having a valence of three; Protecting against...
Definitions
- Having a valence of three; Protecting against...
Ancestry of “trivalent”, step by step
trivalent traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English valent
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | valent | Having valence |
| 2 | English | Valence | The number of arguments that a verb can have, including its subject, ranging from zero to three or, less commonly, four |
| 3 | French | Valence | valence |
| 4 | Latin | Valentia | health, vigour, bodily strength |
| 5 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 6 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |