trichotomy
(trɪ-, traɪˈkɒtəmɪ)
[f. Gr. τρίχα triply + -τοµία cutting: after dichotomy.]
Division into three; arrangement or classification in three divisions, classes, or categories.
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 303 This Trichotomy or triple division doth not contradict the other Dichotomy. 1734 J. Kirkby tr. Barrow's Math. Lect. viii. 119 His [Aristotle's] trichotomy..into Hypotheses, Definitions, and Axioms. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xli. (1870) II. 416 It remained..for Kant to establish..the decisive trichotomy of the mental powers. 1868 Contemp. Rev. VII. 598 Popular theology is rather founded on the dichotomy of man into body and soul, than on the Christian trichotomy of body, soul, and spirit. |