The Collaborative International Dictionary
Trifid \Tri"fid\, a. [L. trifidus; tri- (see Tri-) + the root of findere to split: cf. F. trifide.] Cleft to the middle, or slightly beyond the middle, into three parts; three-cleft.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"divided into three lobes," 1620s, from Latin trifidus "cleft in three," from tri- "three" (see tri-) + -fid. This adjective probably inspired triffid, the name of the three-legged walking poisonous plants in John Wyndham's novel "The Day of the Triffids" (1951).
Wiktionary
a. (context botany English) Divided into three lobes.
WordNet
adj. divided into three lobes; "trifid petals"
Wikipedia
Trifid is Latin for "split into three parts" or "threefold" and may refer to:
- Trifid (journal), a Czech-language periodical
- Trifid Nebula in the constellation Sagittarius
- Trifid cipher, a fractionated cipher
- Trifid (software), suite of manufacturing software by Plessey.
Trifid is a quarterly Czech-language periodical and the official publication of Darwiniana, a carnivorous plant society based in the Czech Republic. Typical articles include matters of horticultural interest, field reports, and scientific studies. The journal was established in 1990 as Amatérské Pěstování Masožravých Rostlin and obtained its current title in 1996. It is published in B5 format, with each issue numbering around 36 pages, of which 24 are in colour.
Usage examples of "trifid".
Based on the data, some scientists theorized that the protosolar system was destroyed when a subspace compression collided with the Trifid star, causing it to go supernova and eject most of its mass.
It hit the cage squarely, and at the same time a blast of thunder reached the ears of Sharn and Ayfa and caused them to blink, so that they missed the beginning of Pingol's charge-then shouted in delight at the sight of the gnomes, still in their disciplined trifid formation preceded by the shielders, racing up the hill and bombarding the cage with a fusillade of small psychocreative bursts.