# Thrice **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780 "2013-05-31T10:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/1 "2013-05-31T10:17:05Z")
Why is ‘twice’ frequently used, especially in marketing - “Twice as much; twice as good”, but thrice is rarely seen? And why is there no comparable word for four times? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/2 "2013-05-31T11:03:01Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Why is ‘twice’ frequently used, especially in marketing - “Twice as much; twice as good”, but thrice is rarely seen? > > And why is there no comparable word for four times? 4 times ? fice ? well that would be confusing, because 5 times would also be fice. Maybe it could be ‘quice’ for 4 times. Do you want have breakfast sevice times a week ? Would “9 times” be nice ? I tried a google search, ‘thrice’ does seem to be still in use, and no mention of a ban. eg CNN used it recently in a 2012 an article about slavery in Mauritania. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/3 "2013-05-31T12:18:52Z")
Here’s what the company that publishes the OED and similar dictionaries says: > **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com/)** > > Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data. Please get the following straight in your head: There are no deep, rational reasons why anything does or doesn’t exist in a language. That’s not how languages work. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/4 "2013-05-31T13:01:31Z")
I use “thrice” whenever I can, and find it sad that it’s not used more often. The Commodores’ song that goes “you’re once…twice…three times a lady” has to be one of the worst excuses for music ever created. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/5 "2013-05-31T13:16:16Z")
The Urban Dictionary has a listing for “quatrice” as something that has happened/occured for the fourth time. Another source indicated the KJV had “fourice” at some point, but I can’t confirm that one. If you just want a term, quatrice or tetrice seem reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/6 "2013-05-31T14:44:20Z")
Another series where the larger numbers have fallen into obsolescence is: _ace, deuce, trey, cater, cinque, sice_ I think “deuce” is in very wide use, “trey” considered quaint except by avid card-players, “cater” and up obsolete even among gamblers. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/7 "2013-05-31T14:48:47Z")
Some people still use it: \ ***Philia:** That’s the brute who raped my country, Thrace! **Pseudolus:** He raped Thrace? **Philia:** And then he came and did it again! And then again! \*\*Pseudolus: \*\*He raped Thrace thrice? \* -A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/8 "2013-05-31T14:52:53Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Here’s what the company that publishes the OED and similar dictionaries says: > > [Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/what-comes-after-once-twice-thrice) > > Please get the following straight in your head: There are no deep, rational reasons why anything does or doesn’t exist in a language. That’s not how languages work. No need to be rude. The Oxford English Dictionary is published by the Oxford University Press. It has no connection, other than the name, with the company in your link. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/9 "2013-05-31T14:58:59Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > “trey” considered quaint except by avid card-players It’s fairly frequently used by sports announcers as shorthand for a three-point shot in basketball. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/10 "2013-05-31T16:01:19Z")
I also had a classmate who was named Firstname Lastname III, and went by “Trey”. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/11 "2013-05-31T16:24:20Z")
Forsooth! One knows not why “thrice” hath fallen off the radar. language usage changes. There are a heckuva lot more times when “two times” is called for in conversation than “3 times”. Even less for “4 times” or “24-7 times”. There’s a rule somewhere of language analysis that says how common a word is (and possibly how old) by how simplistic it is. Thus we have “twice”, and occasionally “thrice”, but no “quice”. We have “half”, “third” and “quarter” but not “Quinter”. (IIRC Quintile might suffice). It was easy to divide stuff evenly into 2 or 4 pieces, and maybe even 3, but 5 even pieces was not as easy to do by eyeball, and much less comonly called for. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/12 "2013-05-31T16:34:26Z")
I wrote out some instructions for someone last week, and used the word _thrice_ twice. Now I think about it, I really missed an opportunity there, didn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/13 "2013-05-31T16:40:25Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > language usage changes. There are a heckuva lot more times when “two times” is called for in conversation than “3 times”. Even less for “4 times” or “24-7 times”. > > There’s a rule somewhere of language analysis that says how common a word is (and possibly how old) by how simplistic it is. Thus we have “twice”, and occasionally “thrice”, but no “quice”. We have “half”, “third” and “quarter” but not “Quinter”. (IIRC Quintile might suffice). It was easy to divide stuff evenly into 2 or 4 pieces, and maybe even 3, but 5 even pieces was not as easy to do by eyeball, and much less comonly called for. Yes, and there seems to be something special about **two** , or about having two of something or multiplying or dividing by two as compared to other numbers: “_In medieval treatises on computation, these two processes of duplication [doubling] and mediation [halving] were considered to be separate arithmetic operations besides the usual four ones. The principle of reducing multiplication to duplication is very old; it was used by the early Egyptians, and it may well have been the first approach to a systematic multiplication procedure._” -Oystein Ore: _Number Theory and Its History_ ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/14 "2013-05-31T16:43:48Z")
There’s a parallel here with “primary, secondary, tertiary”. The series continues with “quaternary, quinary” etc but with increasing rarity of need and therefore use. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/15 "2013-05-31T16:44:42Z")
I settle it: Once, twice, thrice, quatrice, quintice, sextice, septice, octice, nince, tince, elevince, twilce. And that’s it. Nothing happens more than twilce. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/16 "2013-05-31T17:19:57Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Please get the following straight in your head: There are no deep, rational reasons why anything does or doesn’t exist in a language. That’s not how languages work. For technical terms, such as scientific nomenclature and mathematical series, there usually is a rationale. And the word may exist but not be used frequently enough to make it into most dictionaries, or be algorithmically correct but not yet extant. > [@md2000](#): > > We have “half”, “third” and “quarter” but not “Quinter”. (IIRC Quintile might suffice). It was easy to divide stuff evenly into 2 or 4 pieces, and maybe even 3, but 5 even pieces was not as easy to do by eyeball, and much less comonly called for. Most people I know would state it as a regular fraction. I’ll take a fifth, or a sixth… > [@moriah](#): > > I settle it: > > Once, twice, thrice, quatrice, quintice, sextice, septice, octice, nince, tince, elevince, twilce. > . I match and raise: Once, twice, thrice, quadrice, quintice, sextice, septice, octice, novice, decice, undecice, duodecice, tredecice, quattordecice, quindecice, sexdecice, septendecice, octodecice, novemdecice, vigintice ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/17 "2013-05-31T17:31:34Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Some people still use it: > \ ***Philia:** That’s the brute who raped my country, Thrace! > **Pseudolus:** He raped Thrace? > **Philia:** And then he came and did it again! And then again! > \*\*Pseudolus: \*\*He raped Thrace thrice? \* > > -A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum And left many an orphan, I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/18 "2013-05-31T17:34:19Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Please get the following straight in your head: There are no deep, rational reasons why anything does or doesn’t exist in a language. That’s not how languages work. Unless you’re talking about computer programming languages; and even then… Actually, there are often _historical_ reasons why things are the way they are in a language. (I’m reminded of the recent GQ thread about silent letters, for example.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/19 "2013-05-31T18:21:56Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > The Oxford English Dictionary is published by the Oxford University Press. It has no connection, other than the name, with the company in your link. Well, only in the sense that they are one and the same company. Just scroll to the bottom of [the page at the link in question](http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/what-comes-after-once-twice-thrice), and you will see. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780/20 "2013-05-31T18:23:06Z")
Thrice is the only proper count to be used in timing for the holy hand grenade. With which thee might blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy? Where the count shall be three, **thrice shall be the count**. One, two, and three. Thou shalt not count to four; Nor shalt thou count to two except that thou shalt then proceed to three. Five is right out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrice/659780.md?page=2)