Trinity term

Meaning

Noun

• The fourth and final term of the legal year, running from May to July, during which the upper courts of England and Wales, and Ireland, sit to hear cases.
• The third and final academic term of the universities of Oxford and Dublin, and other educational institutions, running from April to June. The term was modelled after the legal term, but does not begin and end on the same dates.

Origin

• Trinity + term. The word Trinity is from Old French trinite (or ternite, trenite, trinetei, trinitiet, trinitet), from Latin trīnitātem, accusative singular of trīnitās, from trīni (from trīnus, from trēs, from Proto-Italic *trēs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes ("three")) + -itās (from Proto-Italic *-itāts and *-otāts, from Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts ("''suffix forming nouns indicating a state#Noun")). The [[Christian feast day of Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Whitsunday or Pentecost, occurs during this term; it falls at the end of May or in early June.