# 3 is to "Trilogy" as 2 is to ... um ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323 "2004-04-05T08:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/21 "2004-04-06T05:33:14Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Well yes, but that’s hardly a parallel term. I’m sure the OP could figure that much out. Well don’t I just feel stupid. Thanks. _forbids himself from ever speaking again because people could probably figure it out_ At least i’m [not the first](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=movies+%22two-part+series%22), anyway. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/22 "2004-04-06T05:52:02Z")
Also wanted to throw in [this](http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=4skc7a%249p3%40raffles.technet.sg&rnum=5&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dtwo-part%2Bseries%2Btrilogy%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D4skc7a%25249p3%2540raffles.technet.sg%26rnum%3D5) discussion on the same subject (only books intead) in 1996, where they reached the same conclusions. Someone mentioned they had seen two books referred to as a “double-decker”. And of course I can rest easy knowing i’m not a [complete](http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&frame=right&th=c70de22d5614c2d&seekm=4skc7a%249p3%40raffles.technet.sg#link14) moron. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/23 "2004-04-06T06:40:22Z")
In an article in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday, Niall Ferguson used the word “dichotomy” as a corrolary word to “tryptych.” I’d vote for “two-part (or volume) series,” myself, though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/24 "2004-04-06T15:23:47Z")
> [@choie](#): > > “Duology” would be the logical choice – if it were really a word! But a quick search turned up no mainstream groundswell of support for the term … apart from some Star Wars and other Sci-Fi or Fantasy book series publishers. I guess I read too much sf or maybe rasfw, but I’ve heard (and probably used) the term _duology_ for a long time. I see nothing wrong with it and didn’t even realize it wasn’t in the dictionary until reading this thread. The complaint about mixing Latin and Greek roots is silly. These morphemes have been borrowed into English and we’ll mix and match them however we damn well please. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/25 "2004-04-07T04:43:58Z")
A few items: [ul] [_]Two items are too few to make a list, so maybe they’re too few to make a series. [_]On the “four books” question, the Ender’s Game series (4 books) has been billed as the “Ender Quartet” Hi Opal![/ul] ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/26 "2004-04-07T05:17:56Z")
> [@Mr. Babbington](#): > > In an article in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday, Niall Ferguson used the word “dichotomy” as a corrolary word to “tryptych.” I’d vote for “two-part (or volume) series,” myself, though. Well, that’s not quite right, as dichotomy has a bit of a different meaning, and is usually not used to describe a type of two-part painting. As **toadspittle** said, diptych is the correct (and fairly common around people knowledgeably in arts) term. I’m surprised that Ferguson would use it as a parallel to triptych. Presumably, he’d know better. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/27 "2004-04-07T08:11:11Z")
A bipole? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/28 "2004-04-07T08:20:21Z")
How about Doublet and quartet for 2 and 4 respectively. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/29 "2004-04-07T11:30:12Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The complaint about mixing Latin and Greek roots is silly. Ah, but without such standards we would never know if a _pedophile_ was a child molester or a foot fetishist! But without renegades like **dtilque** we wouldn’t have television! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/30 "2004-04-07T12:01:58Z")
Yes, “duology” would be the linguistically consistent term, from Greek “dyo, duo” and “logos”. So the terms for an _n_-part series, depending on the value of _n_, would be Duology Trilogy Tetralogy Pentalogy and so forth. Why insist on being able to mix Latin and Greek roots at will? Why not just keep the usage linguistically consistent when coining new words like “duology”? It’s more logical and makes it easier for people who know the roots to understand the new words. My favorite mixed-roots story: a bathing-suit catalogue that sold “topless bikinis”. To prevent the clientele noticing that the item was simply half a bikini bathing suit and thus ought to cost no more than half the bikini price, they coined a new word: Monokini. That’s right, they pretended that the Polynesian word “bikini” was composed with the Latin prefix “bi” meaning “two” (which I’m not complaining about; I think that was kind of clever, actually), and then replaced it with the **Greek** prefix “mono” meaning “one”! Aargh! Of course, the item in question **should** have been called a… (…figured it out?..) Unikini. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/31 "2004-04-08T02:14:01Z")
“Dilogy” can be found in the OED. Basically, it meant “doublespeak.” I don’t have it at hand, but I believe that it was listed as “obsolete.” Doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be reused, though. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323/32 "2004-04-08T08:12:59Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Ah, but without such standards we would never know if a _pedophile_ was a child molester or a foot fetishist! But what about someone who molests children’s feet? > [@](#): > > But without renegades like **dtilque** we wouldn’t have television! Nor automobiles, motorcycles, or bicycles… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-as-2-is-to-um/238323.md?page=1)