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Is "tri-quarterly" a real English word meaning 3 times a year? Are there any other words that mean 3 times a year?

RegDwigнt
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Drai
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    Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18540/biweekly-bimonthly-biannual-and-bicentennial – coleopterist Sep 22 '12 at 19:23
  • Also related: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/64086/how-do-you-say-three-times-a-month-in-one-word – J.R. Sep 22 '12 at 19:50
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    A superficial use of google leads one to think that this is 'not a word'. It is used as a title of a literary magazine, but that's about it. I don't think there's anything useful one can say about this word that is anything but speculative. – Mitch Feb 06 '13 at 21:22
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    something published every four months might be most acceptably and clearly described as being published "thrice yearly" or "three times a year" –  Sep 23 '13 at 22:41
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    Tri-quarterly, absolutely, means either (a) every three quarters or (b) three times a quarter. It's that simple. The OPs specific question: "does it mean three times per year": answer is absolutely, definitely NOT. – Fattie Mar 28 '14 at 12:43

3 Answers3

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If "tri-quarterly" means anything, surely it would be every third quarter (every nine months). Or possibly three times a quarter, which is monthly. You can't redefine a quarter as a third, though.

Three times a year is triannual — not triennial which is every three years. You could also say every four months; "every four months" is preferable because it removes the possibility of confusion between triennial and triannual.

Andrew Leach
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    The OED records the adjective triannual as obsolete, but gives it both as ‘occurring every three years’ and ‘occurring thrice a year’. It gives the adjective ‘triennial’ as ‘existing or lasting for three years’ and ‘recurring every three years’. – Barrie England Sep 22 '12 at 19:10
  • Triannually was what I found as well, but not in the dictionary, but I couldn't find any validation for tri-quarterly although a few magazines use it that are published 3 times a year. I will accept this answer if I don't get any other suggestions. – Drai Sep 22 '12 at 20:04
  • It is possible that whoever used the term wanted to convey the idea that the three issues are published in three-month intervals, i.e. quarterly (say, in March, June,and September), and that one quarter is then skipped (in this example, there is no issue in December). Tri-quarterly would, however, still be a very bad term to use for that purpose. – jsw29 Dec 01 '21 at 16:24
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A word that I find used a lot is: tertial

Tertial is a foreign word from Latin meaning a third . In the temporal sense, a third is understood to mean a third of a year , i.e. a period of four months .

Ola Ström
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Trimester Trimester · Academic term, a trimester system divides the academic year into three terms

AngelTears143
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  • Confusingly, each term is usually about 13 weeks (the same length as a quarter of the year) to allow for holidays. – Peter Oct 02 '22 at 04:34
  • @Peter Also confusingly trimester is used when referring to human pregnancy. In this context there are three trimesters in a full-term pregnancy each trimester being roughly three months or thirteen weeks long. Trimester neatly divides a thirty-six week pregnancy into three parts and I understand that, if the terms are of equal length, how trimester gives the length of the terms but I don't quite get how trimester can be said to divide a fifty-two week year into three parts. – BoldBen Oct 02 '22 at 05:11
  • Welcome to ELU. Could you [edit] your answer to explain clearly how this answers the question about tri-quarterly please? – Andrew Leach Oct 02 '22 at 08:09
  • @BoldBen Actually trimester means a 3-month period, so in an academic year you would have a trimester (term), break, trimester, break, trimester, long break. This is consistent with the meaning for pregnancy. I am afraid I confused myself! – Peter Oct 02 '22 at 11:32