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'

Direct ancestors

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

Updated July 2026

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