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If A occurs exactly two times, one could say "A occurs twice."
If A occurs exactly three times, one could say "A occurs thrice." etc.

Not being a native English speaker, I don't know how to properly name these words that compress the expression for "number of occurences", however, I've found articles online that have expanded their realm of existence beyond the numerals of 1, 2 and 3, such as "septence" for 7, etc.

I wonder if there are 'compression words' like this for "odd" and "even number of times". I would find these words extremely useful. There are words like that in Czech, I am however unable to find their English equivalents. Do they exist?

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    @EdwinAshworth this question asks if there's such a word for odd and even, not for higher numbers.
    – JJJ
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 14:06
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    @CaptainTrojan the people on here are a bit frustrated, eager to close things. Most others, including me, aren't really active here anymore. I'm not sure, but you might be better off asking at English Language Learners Stack Exchange.
    – JJJ
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 14:32
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    'X occurs an odd number of times' cannot be expressed *'X is oddnumerate'; *'X occurs oddwise' etc. Though 'oddly' is a word, it means 'peculiarly'. There is no single-word term for 'X occurs an even number of times' either. *paritous/ly. To the best of my knowledge; I taught maths to Oxbridge entrance level.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 14:52
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    @EdwinAshworth Thank you for answering! I would expect this to be an actual answer, and not just a comment, so others can see it immediately as well, but I appretiate it anyway. If what you're saying is true, that would be very unfortunate. As a respectable math teacher, your opinion is most likely valid, but I cannot give up my search yet.
    – Captain Trojan
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 15:16
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    The normal use is thus: The series repeats twice”; “The series repeats three times” “The series repeats an even/odd number of times.” With sufficient context, we can say: “The series repeats oddly/evenly.”; Or “The series is odd/even.” Czech is an fusional synthetic language, but English is an analytic language, hence the difference.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 15:18

1 Answer 1

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I agree with Kate: "Thrice" is so infrequently used that I would say it was not colloquial.

I am reminded of the old Lionel Ritchie song, "Three Times a Lady"

You're once twice Three times a lady And I love you Yes your once twice Three times a lady And I love you I love you

Note: The copied lyrics probably contain an error. The "your" almost certainly should have been written "you're".

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  • I have changed the words "would" to "could" in my example so that people don't mistake my opinion on the word "thrice" as "I believe that 'thrice' is a common word." instead of "I believe that 'thrice', as a word, exists and people are free to use it." I appretiate your interest in my question, but I would love if you would shed some light on the topic at hand.
    – Captain Trojan
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 13:58
  • I'm not sure that lyrics can be a good basis for saying something is or isn't. Consider Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright: "And it ain't no use in a-turnin' on your light, babe // The light I never knowed".
    – Ian MacDonald
    Commented Feb 25, 2020 at 14:17

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