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tri·age

(trē-äzh, trēäzh′)

1. A process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and at disaster sites when limited medical resources must be allocated.

2. A system used to allocate a scarce commodity, such as food, only to those capable of deriving the greatest benefit from it.

3. A process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority: "For millions of Americans, each week becomes a stressful triage between work and home that leaves them feeling guilty, exhausted and angry" (Jill Smolowe).

tr.v. tri·aged, tri·ag·ing, tri·ag·es

To sort or allocate by triage: triaged the patients according to their symptoms.

[French, from trier, to sort, from Old French, to pick out; see TRY.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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