trivial

English · Español · Français · Deutsch · Português · Română · 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.

trivial

/ˈtɹɪv.i.əl/
/ˈtɹɪv.jəl/

Where it comes from

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”).

adjective more trivial · most trivial · triviall

Ignorable; of little significance or value. "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."
Similar: ignorable, negligible, trifling, frothy, Lilliputian
Commonplace, ordinary. As a scholar, meantime, he was trivial, and incapable of labour.
Easy; requiring little skill or effort.
Concerned with or involving trivia.
Relating to or designating the name of a species; specific as opposed to generic.
Of, relating to, or being the simplest possible case.
of an algebraic structure or ideal thereof Containing only one element; having an underlying set which is a singleton.
Self-evident.
Pertaining to the trivium.
Indistinguishable in case of truth or falsity.

Opposite: nontrivial, important, significant, radical, fundamental

noun trivials · triviall

obsolete Any of the three liberal arts forming the trivium. 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

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: unimportant, petty, piddling, piffling, footling, inconsiderable, insignificant, superficial, frivolous, niggling, little, lilliputian, fiddling, banal, commonplace, ordinary

adjective

Opposite: nontrivial, important, significant, radical, fundamental

Translations

Every language

adj (mathematics) of being the simplest possible case

Español	trivial
中文	平凡 píngfán
Português	trivial
Français	trivial
Deutsch	trivial
Italiano	banale
Русский	тривиа́льный triviálʹnyj

adj of little significance or value

Español	trivial
한국어	사소하다 sasohada
日本語	つまらない tsumaranai, 些細な sasai na, 末梢的な masshoteki na, 枝葉の edaha no
中文	瑣碎 /琐碎 suǒsuì, 瑣細 /琐细 suǒxì
हिन्दी	नगण्य nagaṇya, तुच्छ tucch
Português	trivial
Français	trivial, anodin
Deutsch	unbedeutend, bedeutungslos, belanglos, geringfügig
Italiano	insignificante, trascurabile
Ελληνικά	ασήμαντος asímantos, τιποτένιος tipoténios, μηδαμινός midaminós
Русский	незначи́тельный neznačítelʹnyj, ме́лкий mélkij, ничто́жный ničtóžnyj, тривиа́льный triviálʹnyj
العربية	تافِه tāfih

adj common, ordinary

Español	trivial
日本語	ありふれた arifureta
中文	平凡 píngfán, 普通 pǔtōng
हिन्दी	सामान्य sāmānya, साधारण sādhāraṇ
Português	trivial
Français	banal
Deutsch	trivial
Italiano	banale, ordinario
Ελληνικά	κοινός koinós
Română	trivial
Русский	тривиа́льный triviálʹnyj, бана́льный banálʹnyj, обы́чный obýčnyj

adj concerned with or involving trivia

日本語	蛇足の dasoku no

adj (biology) relating to, or designating a species

日本語	通称の tsūshō no

adj (mathematics) self-evident

Español	trivial
日本語	自明な jimei na
Português	trivial
Français	trivial
Deutsch	trivial
Ελληνικά	τετριμμένος tetrimménos
Русский	тривиа́льный triviálʹnyj

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{trivial_2026,
  title = {trivial},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/trivial},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}