tierce
/ˈtɪɚs/noun
tierce is spelled T-I-E-R-C-E: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 167,786th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tierce means “Synonym of terce: the third canonical hour or its service” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tierce is tierces.
How many letters and syllables are in tierce?
| Letters | 6: T-I-E-R-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 30 million words; the 167,786th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tierce?
Tierce appears about once in every 30 million words in written English, the 167,786th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tierce?
- UK /ˈtɪəs/
- US /ˈtɪɚs/
- UK /ˈtɜːs/
Tierce has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tierce.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tierce2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tierce?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tierce (/ɪəɹs/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: recite.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tierce
- tierces plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tierce mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteA third.
- 2
Synonym of terce: the third canonical hour or its service.
- 3
A cask of a certain size, or its volume used as a measure of capacity. Larger than a barrel but smaller than a hogshead.
- 4
The third tone of the scale. See mediant.
- 5
A sequence of three playing cards of the same suit. Tierce of ace, king and queen is called tierce-major.
- 6
The third defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at head height.
- 7
An ordinary that covers the left or right third of the field of a shield or flag.
- 8
obsoleteOne sixtieth of a second, i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system. (Also known as a third.)
adjective
- 1
Divided into three equal parts of three different tinctures; said of an escutcheon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does tierce come from?
From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).