trivial

English

Alternative forms

• triviall (obsolete)

Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes

• From Latin triviālis (“appropriate to the street-corner, commonplace, vulgar”), from trivium (“place where three roads meet”). Compare trivium, trivia.
• From the distinction between trivium (“the lower division of the liberal arts; grammar, logic and rhetoric”) and quadrivium (“the higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪv.i.əl/, (now rare except in rapid speech) /ˈtɹɪv.jəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

trivial (comparative more trivial, superlative most trivial)

1. Ignorable; of little significance or value.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     "All which details, I have no doubt, Jones, who reads this book at his Club, will pronounce to be excessively foolish, trivial, twaddling, and ultra-sentimental."

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11:

     In fact, the influence of signage in a certain area may exist anywhere on a continuum from profoundly effective to utterly trivial or completely insignificant, irrespective of the intent motivating the signs.

2. Commonplace, ordinary.
   • 1842, Thomas De Quincey, “Cicero”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine:

     As a scholar, meantime, he was trivial, and incapable of labour.

3. Easy; requiring little skill or effort.
4. Concerned with or involving trivia.
5. (taxonomy) Relating to or designating the name of a species; specific as opposed to generic.
6. (mathematics) Of, relating to, or being the simplest possible case.
   1. (algebra, of an algebraic structure or ideal thereof) Containing only one element; having an underlying set which is a singleton.
7. (mathematics) Self-evident.
8. Pertaining to the trivium.
9. (philosophy) Indistinguishable in case of truth or falsity.

Synonyms

• (of little significance): ignorable, negligible, trifling, frothy, Lilliputian

Antonyms

• nontrivial
• important
• significant
• radical
• fundamental

Derived terms

• isotrivial
• non-trivial
• nontrivial
• quasitrivial
• semitrivial
• supertrivial
• trivia
• trivial absolute value
• trivial functional dependency
• trivial group
• trivialisation
• trivialise
• trivialism
• trivialist
• trivialistic
• triviality
• trivialization
• trivialize
• trivially
• trivial name
• trivialness
• trivial solution
• trivial topology
• untrivial

Translations

of little significance or value

• Arabic: تافِه (tāfih)
• Belarusian: нязна́чны (njaznáčny), мізэ́рны (mizérny), трывія́льны (tryvijálʹny)
• Bulgarian: незначи́телен (bg) (neznačítelen), нищо́жен (bg) (ništóžen)
• Catalan: trivial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瑣碎 / 琐碎 (zh) (suǒsuì), 瑣細 / 琐细 (zh) (suǒxì)

• Czech: bezvýznamný (cs)
• Esperanto: bagatela (eo)
• Estonian: tühine
• Finnish: mitätön (fi), triviaali (fi)
• French: trivial (fr), anodin (fr) m
• Galician: trivial m or f
• Georgian: უმნიშვნელო (umnišvnelo), ტრივიალური (ṭrivialuri)
• German: unbedeutend (de), bedeutungslos (de), belanglos (de), geringfügig (de)
• Greek: ασήμαντος (el) (asímantos), τιποτένιος (el) m (tipoténios), μηδαμινός (el) m (midaminós)
• Hindi: नगण्य (hi) (nagaṇya), तुच्छ (hi) (tucch)
• Hungarian: jelentéktelen (hu)
• Italian: insignificante (it), trascurabile (it)
• Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai), 些細な (ja) (ささいな, sasai na), 末梢的な (ja) (まっしょうてきな, masshoteki na), 枝葉の (ja) (えだはの, edaha no)
• Korean: 사소하다 (ko) (sasohada)
• Latin: levis (la), sublestus
• Malayalam: നിസ്സാര (ml) (nissāra)
• Māori: meroiti, kūrapa, tātakimōri, paraurehe
• Polish: trywialny (pl), błahy (pl), bagatelny (pl)
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: незначи́тельный (ru) (neznačítelʹnyj), ме́лкий (ru) (mélkij), ничто́жный (ru) (ničtóžnyj), тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: suarach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: три̏вија̄лан

  Latin: trȉvijālan (sh)

• Spanish: trivial (es)
• Swedish: trivial (sv), enkel (sv)
• Tamil: உப்பு பெறாத (uppu peṟāta)
• Turkish: ıvır zıvır (tr) (informal)

  Ottoman Turkish: یسیر (yesir)

• Ukrainian: незначни́й (neznačnýj), мізе́рний (uk) (mizérnyj), тривіа́льний (tryviálʹnyj)
• Urdu: اَدْنیٰ (adnā)

common, ordinary

• Bulgarian: обикнове́н (bg) (obiknovén), всекидне́вен (bg) (vsekidnéven)
• Catalan: trivial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平凡 (zh) (píngfán), 普通 (zh) (pǔtōng)

• Czech: triviální (cs)
• Esperanto: banala (eo)
• Estonian: argine, tavaline (et)
• Finnish: tavallinen (fi), yksinkertainen (fi)
• French: banal (fr) m
• Georgian: ჩვეულებრივი (čveulebrivi), ყოველდღიური (q̇oveldɣiuri), უბრალო (ubralo)
• German: trivial (de)
• Greek: κοινός (el) m (koinós)
• Hindi: सामान्य (hi) (sāmānya), साधारण (hi) (sādhāraṇ)
• Hungarian: közönséges (hu), útszéli (hu)
• Italian: banale (it), ordinario (it)
• Japanese: ありふれた (ja) (arifureta)
• Malayalam: സാധാരണ (ml) (sādhāraṇa)
• Polish: trywialny (pl)
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Romanian: trivial (ro)
• Russian: тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj), бана́льный (ru) (banálʹnyj), обы́чный (ru) (obýčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cumanta
• Spanish: trivial (es)
• Swedish: trivial (sv), ordinär (sv), vanlig (sv)
• Ukrainian: звича́йний (uk) (zvyčájnyj), тривіа́льний (tryviálʹnyj), неособли́вий (neosoblývyj)

concerned with or involving trivia

• Catalan: banal (ca)
• Finnish: tyhjänpäiväinen (fi), turhanaikainen
• Japanese: 蛇足の (ja) (だそくの, dasoku no)
• Ukrainian: віктори́нний (viktorýnnyj) (relating to a quiz), цікавинко́вий (cikavynkóvyj) (relating to facts about sth)

(biology) relating to, or designating a species

• Czech: druhový
• Japanese: 通称の (ja) (つうしょうの, tsūshō no)

(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case

• Belarusian: трывія́льны (tryvijálʹny)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平凡 (zh) (píngfán)

• Esperanto: triviala
• Finnish: triviaali (fi)
• French: trivial (fr)
• German: trivial (de)
• Italian: banale (it)
• Norwegian: triviell
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj)
• Spanish: trivial (es)
• Ukrainian: тривіа́льний (tryviálʹnyj)

(mathematics) self-evident

• Czech: triviální (cs)
• Finnish: triviaali (fi)
• French: trivial (fr)
• German: trivial (de)
• Greek: τετριμμένος (el) m (tetrimménos)
• Hungarian: nyilvánvaló (hu), magától értetődő (hu), triviális (hu)
• Icelandic: augljós
• Japanese: 自明な (ja) (じめいな, jimei na)
• Norwegian: triviell
• Portuguese: trivial (pt)
• Russian: тривиа́льный (ru) (triviálʹnyj)
• Spanish: trivial (es)
• Swedish: trivial (sv), uppenbar (sv)
• Ukrainian: очеви́дний (uk) (očevýdnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} تَافِه (tāfih)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 瑣碎 / 琐碎 (zh) (suǒsuì)

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} onbeduidend (nl)
• German: ^{(please verify)} trivial (de)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} trivialus (lt)

Noun

trivial (plural trivials)

1. (obsolete) Any of the three liberal arts forming the trivium.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:

     Tryuyals, & quatryuyals, ſo ſore now they appayre
     That Parrot the Popagay, hath pytye to beholde
     How the reſt of good lernyng, is roufled vp & trold

   • 1691, [Anthony Wood], Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from the Fifteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, Dom. 1500, to the End of the Year 1690. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Tho[mas] Bennet […]:

     St. Edmund was bred in this University in the Trivials and Quadrivials till he was Professor of Arts

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “trivial”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• trivial in Britannica Dictionary
• trivial in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• trivial in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• trivial in WordReference English Collocations

Anagrams

• vitrail

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central, Northwestern) [tɾi.βiˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [tɾi.viˈal]

Adjective

trivial m or f (masculine and feminine plural trivials)

1. trivial

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin triviālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁi.vjal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: triviale, triviales

Adjective

trivial (feminine triviale, masculine plural triviaux, feminine plural triviales)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)
2. ordinary, mundane, commonplace

   Synonyms: banal, commun, ordinaire

   Antonyms: nouveau, singulier, rare

3. inelegant, unrefined (especially of a person's language)

   Synonym: inélégant

   Antonym: raffiné

4. crass, crude, vulgar, obscene (words, language, behavior, etc.)

   Synonyms: brut, grossier, obscène

   Antonyms: courtois, gentil, poli, subtil

Derived terms

• nom trivial

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• livrait, vitrail

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾiˈbjal/ [t̪ɾiˈβ̞jɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: tri‧vial

Adjective

trivial m or f (plural triviais)

1. trivial

Derived terms

• trivialidade
• trivialmente

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French trivial, from Latin triviālis (“common”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁiviˈaːl/
• Rhymes: -aːl

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

trivial (strong nominative masculine singular trivialer, comparative trivialer, superlative am trivialsten)

1. trivial (common, easy, obvious)

Declension

Positive forms of trivial number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist trivial sie ist trivial es ist trivial sie sind trivial strong declension (without article) nominative trivialer triviale triviales triviale genitive trivialen trivialer trivialen trivialer dative trivialem trivialer trivialem trivialen accusative trivialen triviale triviales triviale weak declension (with definite article) nominative der triviale die triviale das triviale die trivialen genitive des trivialen der trivialen des trivialen der trivialen dative dem trivialen der trivialen dem trivialen den trivialen accusative den trivialen die triviale das triviale die trivialen mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein trivialer eine triviale ein triviales (keine) trivialen genitive eines trivialen einer trivialen eines trivialen (keiner) trivialen dative einem trivialen einer trivialen einem trivialen (keinen) trivialen accusative einen trivialen eine triviale ein triviales (keine) trivialen Comparative forms of trivial number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist trivialer sie ist trivialer es ist trivialer sie sind trivialer strong declension (without article) nominative trivialerer trivialere trivialeres trivialere genitive trivialeren trivialerer trivialeren trivialerer dative trivialerem trivialerer trivialerem trivialeren accusative trivialeren trivialere trivialeres trivialere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der trivialere die trivialere das trivialere die trivialeren genitive des trivialeren der trivialeren des trivialeren der trivialeren dative dem trivialeren der trivialeren dem trivialeren den trivialeren accusative den trivialeren die trivialere das trivialere die trivialeren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein trivialerer eine trivialere ein trivialeres (keine) trivialeren genitive eines trivialeren einer trivialeren eines trivialeren (keiner) trivialeren dative einem trivialeren einer trivialeren einem trivialeren (keinen) trivialeren accusative einen trivialeren eine trivialere ein trivialeres (keine) trivialeren Superlative forms of trivial number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am trivialsten sie ist am trivialsten es ist am trivialsten sie sind am trivialsten strong declension (without article) nominative trivialster trivialste trivialstes trivialste genitive trivialsten trivialster trivialsten trivialster dative trivialstem trivialster trivialstem trivialsten accusative trivialsten trivialste trivialstes trivialste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der trivialste die trivialste das trivialste die trivialsten genitive des trivialsten der trivialsten des trivialsten der trivialsten dative dem trivialsten der trivialsten dem trivialsten den trivialsten accusative den trivialsten die trivialste das trivialste die trivialsten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein trivialster eine trivialste ein trivialstes (keine) trivialsten genitive eines trivialsten einer trivialsten eines trivialsten (keiner) trivialsten dative einem trivialsten einer trivialsten einem trivialsten (keinen) trivialsten accusative einen trivialsten eine trivialste ein trivialstes (keine) trivialsten

Related terms

• trivialisieren
• Trivialität

Further reading

• “trivial” in Duden online
• “trivial”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Piedmontese

Adjective

trivial

1. trivial

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɾi.viˈaw/ [tɾi.viˈaʊ̯], (faster) /tɾiˈvjaw/ [tɾiˈvjaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾiˈvjal/ [tɾiˈvjaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾiˈvjal/ [tɾiˈvjaɫ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾiˈbjal/ [tɾiˈβjaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /tɾiˈvja.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: tri‧vi‧al

Adjective

trivial m or f (plural triviais)

1. trivial

Derived terms

• trivialidade
• trivializar
• trivialmente

Noun

trivial m (plural triviais)

1. (informal) a simple everyday meal

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “trivial” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “trivial”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French trivial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tri.viˈal/

Adjective

trivial m or n (feminine singular trivială, masculine plural triviali, feminine/neuter plural triviale)

1. common, ordinary

   Synonyms: de rând, comun, obișnuit, ordinar

2. obscene, indecent

   Synonyms: obscen, indecent

Declension

Declension of trivial

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	trivial		trivială	triviali	triviale
	definite	trivialul		triviala	trivialii	trivialele
genitive- dative	indefinite	trivial		triviale	triviali	triviale
	definite	trivialului		trivialei	trivialilor	trivialelor

Derived terms

• trivialitate
• trivializa
• netrivial

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɾiˈbjal/ [t̪ɾiˈβ̞jal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: tri‧vial

Adjective

trivial m or f (masculine and feminine plural triviales)

1. trivial

   Synonym: insignificante

Derived terms

• trivialidad
• trivializar
• trivialmente

Further reading

• “trivial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Adjective

trivial (comparative trivialare, superlative trivialast)

1. trivial

Declension

Inflection of trivial

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	trivial	trivialare	trivialast
neuter singular	trivialt	trivialare	trivialast
plural	triviala	trivialare	trivialast
masculine plural2	triviale	trivialare	trivialast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	triviale	trivialare	trivialaste
all	triviala	trivialare	trivialaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Derived terms

• trivialnamn (“common name”)

References

• “trivial”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “trivial”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “trivial”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)