English Explanatory Dictionary

triffid

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A fictional plant, able to move around and kill people with a poisonous stinger
  2. Any of the sea anemones of the genus Aiptasia with poisonous tentacles, which are a pest in aquaria.
  3. Any large, fast-growing and hard-to-remove weed, such as the flowering shrub Chromolaena odorata.

Pronunciation

/ˈtɹɪfɪd/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-triffid.wav

Word forms

triffid triffids

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Italic *trēs Latin trēsder. Latin tri- Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *bʰinédti Proto-Italic *findō Latin findō Latin -fidus Latin trifidusbor. English trifid English triffid Coined by John Wyndham for his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids, by alteration of the botanical term trifid (“having three lobes”).

Derived words

triffidian triffidlike
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