tre (Swedish)

Where does "tre" come from?

The Swedish word 'tre' descends from the ancient Proto-Indo-European root *tréyes, meaning 'three'. It evolved through Proto-Germanic and Proto-Norse before becoming the Old Norse 'þrír', eventually simplifying into the modern Swedish form as the language developed from its Old Swedish ancestors.

Full etymology tree

• tre (Swedish), 'three'
  • inherited þrir (Old Swedish), 'three'
    • inherited þrīR (Runic Swedish)
      • inherited þrír (Old Norse), 'three'
        • inherited *ᚦᚱᛁᛃᛟᛉ (þrijoʀ) (Proto-Norse), 'three'
          • derived *þrīz (Proto-Germanic), 'three'
            • inherited *þrijiz (Proto-Germanic)
              • inherited *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European), 'three'
          • suffix -ᛟᛉ (-oʀ) (Proto-Norse)

Ancestors

• þrír (Old Norse)
• *ᚦᚱᛁᛃᛟᛉ (Proto-Norse)
• *þrīz (Proto-Germanic)
• *tréyes (Proto-Indo-European)

Descendants and derived words

• treårig (Swedish)
• treenig (Swedish)
• treenighet (Swedish)
• trefaldig (Swedish)
• trefalt (Swedish)
• trefot (Swedish)
• trehjuling (Swedish)
• trekant (Swedish)
• trekvart (Swedish)
• treskift (Swedish)
• tresteg (Swedish)
• trestegshopp (Swedish)

Updated July 2026

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