triumvirate

/tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/

//tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"triumvirate" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“triumvirate” is uncommon English (frequency #50,284 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,284
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A council of three magistrates ruling jointly; specifically, the First Triumvirate (60 or 59 – 53 B.C.E.) or the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.); the office of a triumvir (“one of such ma...

Corpus desk

Index EN-triumvirate · triumvirate · English

triumvirate · rank #50,284 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #50,284
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH troubleshoot

Nearest frequency peer: troubleshoot (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “triumvirate”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “triumvirate” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for triumvirate
PropertyValue
Headwordtriumvirate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/
Letters11
Frequency rank#50,284
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “triumvirate” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).triumviratefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “troubleshoot” (#50,285), “trembled” (#50,282), “tubman” (#50,287). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “triumvirate” is #50,284. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

triumvirate is uncommon English at frequency #50,284 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

triumvirate doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Italic *trēs Latin trium Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós Proto-Italic *wiros Latin vir Latin triumvir Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus, -tūs Latin -ātus Latin t… The correct English form is triumvirate, spelled T-R-I-U-M-V-I-R-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A council of three magistrates ruling jointly; specifically, the First Triumvirate (60 or 59 – 53 B.C.E.) or the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.); the office of a triumvir (“one of such magistrates”), or of the three triumviri.
  2. 2
    Any group of three joint rulers.
  3. 3
    Any group of three people regarded as significant in some way; also (rare), a group of three things; a trio.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how triumvirate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. […] I muſt not forget to ſet dovvne a pretie jeſt, vvhich hath been reported by many as touching Lepidus: It happened during the time of his Triumvirat, […]
  2. [H]e frets / That Lepidus of the Triumpherate, ſhould be depos'd, / And being that, vve detaine all his Reuenue.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Italic *trēs Latin trium Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós Proto-Italic *wiros Latin vir Latin triumvir Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus, -tūs Latin -ātus Latin triumvirātuslbor. ▲ Latin -ātusder. English -ate English triumvirate Learned borrowing from Latin triumvirātus (“triumvirate”) (see -ate (suffix forming nouns denoting offices or ranks)), itself derived from triumvir (“member of a triumvirate”) + -ātus (“-ate”, suffix forming nouns denoting offices or ranks, or groups of officials associated with such offices or ranks); and triumvir from trium (“of three”) (the genitive form of trēs (“three”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + vir (“adult male human, man”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”)). By surface analysis, triumvir + -ate.

This word in other languages

triunvirato(Español)triumvirat(Français)Triumvirat(Deutsch)troica(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "triumvirate"?
"triumvirate" is spelled T-R-I-U-M-V-I-R-A-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is /tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/.
What does "triumvirate" mean?
As a noun, "triumvirate" means: A council of three magistrates ruling jointly; specifically, the First Triumvirate (60 or 59 – 53 B.C.E.) or the Second Triumvirate (43 – 33 or 27 B.C.E.); the office of a triumvir (“one of such ma...
How do you pronounce "triumvirate"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "triumvirate" is /tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/. 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 "triumvirate"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Italic *trēs Latin trium Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós Proto-Italic *wiros Latin vir Latin triumvir Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus, -tūs Latin -āt... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "triumvirate", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

uninspiring#50,297subjunctive#50,251screensaver#50,213playfulness#50,156

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list