# triumvirate

> English word · Noun · IPA /tɹaɪˈʌmvəɹət/ · frequency rank #50,284

## Definitions
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. Any group of three joint rulers.
3. Any group of three people regarded as significant in some way; also (rare), a group of three things; a trio.

## 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.

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