tercio

See also: terció

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish tercio.

Noun

tercio (plural tercios)

1. (bullfighting) Any of the three stages of a bullfight: the vara, the banderilla and finally the death.
2. (military) A mutually supportive infantry formation made up of pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers or musketeers.

Anagrams

• erotic, ictero-

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈteɾθjo/ [ˈt̪eɾ.θjo]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /ˈteɾsjo/ [ˈt̪eɾ.sjo]
• Rhymes: -eɾθjo
• Rhymes: -eɾsjo
• Syllabification: ter‧cio

Etymology 1

Spanish numbers ^(edit)

	30[a], [b]
[a], [b] ←  2	3	4  →
Cardinal: tres     Ordinal: tercero     Apocopated ordinal: tercer     Ordinal abbreviation: 3.º     Multiplier: triple     Fractional: tercio
Spanish Wikipedia article on 3

Borrowed from Latin tertius. Doublet of tercia.

Adjective

tercio (feminine tercia, masculine plural tercios, feminine plural tercias)

1. (fractional number) third, one of three equal parts

Noun

tercio m (plural tercios)

1. (fractional number) third, one of three equal parts
2. (bullfighting) tercio
3. 0.33 liter bottle of beer

   Coordinate term: caña

   A mí me pones un tercio.

   Give me a beer.

Usage notes

• This word is used to express the denominator of a fraction:

  Un tercio del total de la población sufre de obesidad.

  A third of the population is obese.

• The adjective tercero can also be used in this sense, but it should be accompanied by an auxiliary noun such as parte:

  Me comí la tercera parte del pastel.

  I ate the third part of the cake.

Derived terms

• cambiar de tercio

 

Etymology 2

Verb

tercio

1. first-person singular present indicative of terciar

Further reading

• “tercio”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10