drie (Dutch)

Where does "drie" come from?

The Dutch word "drie" descends from the ancient Proto-Indo-European root *tréyes, meaning "three." It traveled through the Germanic branches as *þrīz and Proto-West Germanic *þrīʀ before evolving into the Old Dutch "thrie" and finally arriving at its modern form.

Full etymology tree

• drie (Dutch), 'three'
  • inherited drie (Middle Dutch), 'three'
    • inherited thrie (Old Dutch)
      • inherited *þrīʀ (Proto-West Germanic), 'three'
        • inherited *þrīz (Proto-Germanic), 'three'
          • inherited *þrijiz (Proto-Germanic)
            • inherited *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European), 'three'

Ancestors

• drie (Middle Dutch)
• *þrīʀ (Proto-West Germanic)
• *þrīz (Proto-Germanic)
• *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European)

Descendants and derived words

• drie (Afrikaans)
• drie (Afrikaans)
• driebanden (Dutch)
• driecilinder (Dutch)
• driedekker (Dutch)
• driedimensionaal (Dutch)
• drieduizend (Dutch)
• drie-eenheid (Dutch)
• drieën (Dutch)
• drieën (Dutch)
• drieëndertig (Dutch)
• drieënnegentig (Dutch)

Updated July 2026

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