triage (English)

Where does "triage" come from?

The English word 'triage' was borrowed from the French 'triage'[1], which is constructed from the verb 'trier' and the suffix '-age'[2]. The history of 'trier', which meant to choose or pick out in Old French[3], remains a subject of scholarly debate[3]. One prominent theory links the term to the Late Latin 'tritare', meaning to grind, based on the practice of beating corn to separate it from the chaff[4]. Other scholars suggest that the word may be a variation of the Vulgar Latin '*tirare', meaning to pull, or potentially a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European root '*terh1-' through Proto-Germanic forms related to tearing[4]. Regardless of its origin, the term eventually evolved from general sorting to the specific medical process of prioritizing patients based on urgency[1][2].

Open questions

• The etymological origin of the French verb trier is debated, with multiple conflicting theories proposed by linguists. [3] [4]
• The link between the Old French trier and the Late Latin tritare remains an assumption rather than a confirmed derivation. [4]
• The proposed connection to the Vulgar Latin *tirare or Germanic *tairan is hypothetical and remains unverified. [4]

Full etymology tree

• triage (English), 'Assessment or sorting according to quality, need, etc., especially to determine how resources will be allocated.'
  • borrowed triage (French), 'triage; sorting'
    • compound trier (French), 'to sort, to sort out'
      • inherited trier (Middle French)
        • inherited trier (Old French), 'to choose; to select'
          • inherited trītāre (Late Latin)
            • derived tritus (Latin), 'rubbed, triturated'
              • derived tero (Latin), 'to rub or triturate'
    • compound -age (French), 'Forming nouns with the sense of "action or result of Xing" or, more rarely, "action related to X".'

Ancestors

• *terh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
• triage (French)

Descendants and derived words

• e-triage (English)
• e-triage (English)

Sources

1. triage (English) - Wiktionary
2. triage (French) - Wiktionary
3. trier (French) - Wiktionary
4. trier (Old French) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris