tres (Spanish)

Where does "tres" come from?

The Spanish word 'tres' is a direct successor to the Latin 'trēs', continuing a lineage that stretches back through Proto-Italic to the Proto-Indo-European *tréyes. This root word for 'three' has remained remarkably stable across thousands of years, sharing common ancestry with the English word 'three' and the Ancient Greek 'treîs'.

Full etymology tree

• tres (Spanish), 'three'
  • inherited trēs (Latin), 'three; 3'
    • inherited *trēs (Proto-Italic), 'three'
      • inherited *trejes (Proto-Indo-European)
        • inherited *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European), 'three'

Ancestors

• tres (Latin)
• *trēs (Proto-Italic)
• *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European)

Descendants and derived words

• a las tres va la vencida (Spanish)
• andar a tres menos cuartillo (Spanish)
• cada dos por tres (Spanish)
• como tres y dos son cinco (Spanish)
• de tres al cuarto (Spanish)
• de tres pares de narices (Spanish)
• dos que tres (Spanish)
• dos que tres (Spanish)
• dos que tres (Spanish)
• en un dos por tres (Spanish)
• la Ciudad de las Tres Culturas (Spanish)
• ni a la de tres (Spanish)

Updated July 2026

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