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triage

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

6 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "triage", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "triage" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "triage" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

triage is aEnglishnoun. It means: Assessment or sorting according to quality, need, etc., especially to determine how resources will be allocated. Pronounced /ˈtɹiː.ɑːʒ/. Often confused with trig and trial.

Key facts for triage
PropertyValue
Headwordtriage
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈtɹiː.ɑːʒ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#33,466
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs16
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of triage in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for triage is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtɹiː.ɑːʒ/. Corpus data places it at rank #33,466 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for triage, with forms such as "rtiage", "tirage", and "traige". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "trig", "trial", "tribe", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French triage, from trier (“to sort”). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is triage, spelled T-R-I-A-G-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Assessment or sorting according to quality, need, etc., especially to determine how resources will be allocated.
  2. 2
    The process of sorting patients so as to determine the order in which they will be treated (for example, by assigning precedence according to the urgency of illness or injury).
  3. 3
    The process of prioritizing bugs to be fixed.
  4. 4
    That which is picked out, especially broken coffee beans.
  5. 5
    A marshalling yard, classification yard.

Etymology

From French triage, from trier (“to sort”).

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: rtiage,tirage,traige,triaeg,triagge,trigae,trriage,ttriage

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for triage

Misspelling Variants of "triage"

rtiage6tirage6traige6triaeg6triagge7trigae6trriage7ttriage7
Misspelling Variants of "triage"

Frequency rank: #33,466 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "triage"?
"triage" is spelled T-R-I-A-G-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈtɹiː.ɑːʒ/.
What does "triage" mean?
As a noun, "triage" means: Assessment or sorting according to quality, need, etc., especially to determine how resources will be allocated.
What words are commonly confused with "triage"?
"triage" is commonly confused with "trig", "trial", "tribe". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "triage"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "triage" is /ˈtɹiː.ɑːʒ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "triage"?
From French triage, from trier (“to sort”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter T in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.