# "3" is to "trilogy" what "2" is to ". . ." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869 "2008-01-01T05:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/1 "2008-01-01T05:19:24Z")
Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/2 "2008-01-01T05:21:12Z")
Duology. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/3 "2008-01-01T05:35:16Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Anybody? [/QUOTE] sequel? ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/4 "2008-01-01T05:35:21Z")
Also known as dilogy. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/5 "2008-01-01T05:47:33Z")
“Duology” is probably the more correct term. “Dilogy” has a different, distinct meaning, as “a statement that is ambiguous; something that could mean one of two things.” So to avoid confusion I’d suggest “duology,” which has no other definition I can find except precisely what lissener is asking for. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/6 "2008-01-01T06:22:06Z")
Pair ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/7 "2008-01-01T06:47:47Z")
[duology](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/duology) (doesn’t seem to exist much outside Wikipedia, though) ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/8 "2008-01-01T07:11:32Z")
Trilogy seems to be special, here. What about all the other numbers? For every “Lord of the Rings Trilogy”, we have plenty of “Oz books” and “Lethal Weapon Movies”. So I’d say that’s your answer. 3? It is a trilogy. Any other number and they’re just books, or movies, or whatever the relevant plural is. ---
**Author:** ![Bethtukr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bethtukr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bethtukr)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/9 "2008-01-01T07:43:42Z")
“pair” “3” describes the number of elements in “trilogy”. “2” describes the number of elements in “pair”. There doesn’t seem to be requirement that “trilogy” and the mystery word have to be related to each other beyond their relation to the numbers “2” and “3”. ---
**Author:** ![Bethtukr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bethtukr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bethtukr)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/10 "2008-01-01T07:49:56Z")
Post above should read “any requirement”. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/11 "2008-01-01T09:43:32Z")
There’s also Diptych. ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/12 "2008-01-01T10:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=DrCube] Trilogy seems to be special, here. What about all the other numbers? For every “Lord of the Rings Trilogy”, we have plenty of “Oz books” and “Lethal Weapon Movies”. So I’d say that’s your answer. 3? It is a trilogy. Any other number and they’re just books, or movies, or whatever the relevant plural is. [/QUOTE] I think usually we just call them “series” after three. While duology, pentalogy, heptalogy and so on are all valid words, seen [here](http://www.reference.com/search?q=Duology) at [reference.com](http://reference.com) they’re really not used a lot. [QUOTE=Quartz] There’s also Diptych [/QUOTE] That’s specific to art though. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/13 "2008-01-01T15:08:28Z")
[QUOTE=IvoryTowerDenizen] sequel? [/QUOTE] Yes indeed. Or ‘follow-up’. Using what others have said, I think the sequence goes: original sequel trilogy series ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/14 "2008-01-01T15:26:35Z")
4 is tetralogy 5 is pentalogy 6 is hexalogy 7 is heptalogy etc, following the greek numeration. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/15 "2008-01-01T16:06:28Z")
Damn, I was hoping it was a biology. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/16 "2008-01-01T16:18:17Z")
The way televison promotion departments talk these days, I’m tempted to say “Two is to miniseries”. :rolleyes: Whatever happend to “two-part”? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/17 "2008-01-01T16:29:18Z")
[QUOTE=glee] Yes indeed. Or ‘follow-up’. Using what others have said, I think the sequence goes: original sequel trilogy series [/QUOTE] But doesn’t “sequel” refer to the second book itself, and not the two-book series as a whole? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/18 "2008-01-01T16:31:45Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] 4 is tetralogy 5 is pentalogy 6 is hexalogy 7 is heptalogy etc, following the greek numeration. [/QUOTE] Actually, four is “inaccurately named trilogy” and five is “increasingly inaccurately named trilogy.” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/19 "2008-01-01T16:36:01Z")
[QUOTE=chorpler] Actually, four is “inaccurately named trilogy” and five is “increasingly inaccurately named trilogy.” [/QUOTE] That is only in Douglas Adams \*Speak \* however. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869/20 "2008-01-01T17:54:21Z")
For what it’s worth, strictly speaking _The Lord of the Rings_ should not be referred to as a trilogy. A trilogy is a series consisting of three novels. _The Lord of the Rings_ is a single novel that is frequently published in three volumes. It wasn’t planned as a three-volume work when it was written. If you’ll check your copies you’ll see that it consists of six parts (and some appendices), and each of the three volumes it’s frequently published as contains two of those parts. When Tolkien gave the manuscript to his publisher, he said, “Hmm, this looks like three volumes worth of material. We’ll publish it in three volumes with six months between the publication of each volume.” Tolkien objected, but the publisher said that he was probably going to lose money on the book anyway, so Tolkien should be happy with even getting it published. The titles of the three volumes were decided by Tolkien and the publisher just before the publication. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-is-to-trilogy-what-2-is-to/431869.md?page=2)