Join free

trivia

English · Español · Deutsch · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

trivia¹

  • /ˈtɹɪvi.ə/ Canada, UK, US

Rhymes with -ɪviə

Where it comes from

PIE word

*tréyes

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *tréyes

Proto-Indo-European *tri-

Proto-Italic *tri-

Latin tri-

Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-

Proto-Italic *wiā

Latin via

Latin -ius

Latin trivius

Latin trivia

English trivia

From Latin trivia, plural of trivium (“place where three roads meet”). The term came to be used for any public place, and then for anything commonplace. Furthermore, because the beginners' course at university was called trivium, the word came to be used only for anything basic, simple and trivial.

noun trivia · trivias

  1. countable, uncountable Insignificant trifles of little importance, especially items of unimportant information. These trivia take up too much of the day.

    Similar: froth

  2. countable, uncountable A quiz game that involves obscure facts. I joined the trivia club this semester!

noun

  1. plural plural of trivium

Trivia²

  • /ˈtɹɪvi.ə/ UK

Rhymes with -ɪviə

Where it comes from

See trivia.

proper noun

  1. Roman An aspect of the Roman goddess Diana, pertaining to her role as guardian of trivia (crossroads or forks where three roads meet); used as an epithet.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: triviality, small beer, trifle, anecdotes, buffs, competitions, contests, factoids, platitudes, quizzes, stories, trifles, trivialities, nothing, negligibility, insignificancy

Translations

Every language

noun insignificant trifles of little importance

Españoltrivia
한국어잡학 japhak
日本語豆知識 mamechishiki
中文冷知識 /冷知识 lěngzhīshí, lěngzhīshì, 豆知識 /豆知识 dòuzhīshí
Portuguêscuriosidade
Françaisbagatelles, fadaises
DeutschTrivia, Varia, Nichtigkeiten, Kleinigkeiten, Minuzien
Русскийме́лочи méloči, пустяки́ pustjakí
Tiếng Việtthông tin bên lề

noun quiz

Españoltrivia

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"trivia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/trivia. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

trivia. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/trivia

Chicago

"trivia." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/trivia.

BibTeX
@misc{trivia_2026,
  title = {trivia},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/trivia},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}