# triffid

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈtɹɪfɪd/

## Definitions
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.

## Etymology
Coined by John Wyndham for his 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids, by alteration of the botanical term trifid (“having three lobes”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/triffid