Trireme
/ˈtraɪriːm/noun
An ancient warship with three banks of oars.
Did you know?The word comes from Greek nautical warfare vocabulary, where ship names were often brutally literal: a trireme was defined by its triple row of oars, not by any mythic flourish.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
GR
τριήρης (triḗrēs)
“A war galley with three banks of oars”
Late Latin
LA
trirēmis
“A trireme; a three-oared ship”
Old French
OF
trireme
“A classical three-banked warship”
16th Century
English
trireme
“A term revived in scholarly and historical writing for an ancient Greek war galley”
Modern English
EN
trireme
“An ancient Greek warship with three tiers of oars”