Standard Lemma guide

triceps

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈtɹaɪ.sɛps/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: T R AY1 S EH2 P S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any muscle having three heads.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Specifically, the triceps brachii.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

any skeletal muscle having three origins (but especially the triceps brachii)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: skeletal muscle, striated muscle

Narrower terms: triceps brachii, musculus triceps brachii

History

Etymology

From Latin triceps (“triple-headed”), from trēs (“three”) + caput (“head”). See there for more details.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: ذَات اَلثَّلَاث رُؤُوسّ (ḏāt aṯ-ṯalāṯ ruʔūss) — any muscle having three heads
  • Arabic: مُثَلَّثَة اَلرُّؤُوس (muṯallaṯat ar-ruʔūs) — any muscle having three heads
  • Arabic: تراي (teraai) — any muscle having three heads
  • Bulgarian: триглав мускул (triglav muskul) — any muscle having three heads
  • Chinese Mandarin: 三頭肌 /三头肌 (sāntóujī) — any muscle having three heads
  • Finnish: kolmipäinen lihas — any muscle having three heads
  • French: triceps — any muscle having three heads
  • Galician: tríceps — any muscle having three heads
  • German: Trizeps — any muscle having three heads
  • Ido: tricepso — any muscle having three heads
  • Italian: tricipite — any muscle having three heads
  • Japanese: 三頭筋 (santōkin) — any muscle having three heads
  • Korean: 삼두근 (samdugeun) — any muscle having three heads
  • Māori: uatoru — any muscle having three heads
  • Portuguese: tríceps — any muscle having three heads
  • Russian: три́цепс (tríceps) — any muscle having three heads
  • Swedish: triceps — any muscle having three heads