English

Alternative forms

• menage a trois

Noun

ménage à trois ‎(plural ménages à trois)

1. A household or relationship whereby three people live together as lovers.
   • 1856, Richard F. Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa, Könemann 2000, p. 105:

     Old men frequently marry young girls, but then the portion is high and the ménage à trois common.

   • 2001, Sheila Isenberg, A Hero of Our Own, p. 134:

     For a while, he lived in a ménage à trois with the poet Paul Eluard and his wife, Gala Diakonova (who would later marry Salvador Dali).

   • 2006, Gene Lees, Portrait of Johnny, p. 56:

     I'm not a prude and I wasn't a prude then, but I couldn't see living in a ménage à trois unless the third member were a girl.

2. A sexual act or experience involving three people; a threesome.
   • 1996, Cyrinda Foxe, in McNeil & McCain, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, p. 134:

     David and Angela and I had a ménage à trois for about five minutes, but then I made her leave because David and I were gonna play.

   • 1999, John Cloud, ‘Henry & Mary & Janet &...’, Time, 15 Nov 1999:

     No, the two guys don't go for each other; the triad tried a ménage à trois once but stopped because Chris thought it was icky.

Related terms

• folie à deux

Translations

See also

• eternal triangle
• love triangle

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /menaʒ a tʁwa/

Noun

ménage à trois m ‎(plural ménages à trois)

1. ménage à trois; threesome

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from French ménage à trois ‎(“household of three”).

Noun

ménage à trois f or m (in variation) (plural ménages à trois)

1. threesome (a sexual activity involving three people)

Synonyms

• ménage