tertian

/'tə:ʃn/

Thân thiện

A composer arranges a piece using tertian harmony.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to a musical interval of a major or minor third: In music theory, "tertian" describes harmony or chords constructed by stacking intervals of a third (major or minor).
   • Recurring every other day: In medicine, particularly describing fevers (like malaria), "tertian" refers to symptoms or paroxysms that occur every 48 hours (i.e., on the first and third days).

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Music):
  • Much of Western classical music is built on tertian harmony.
  • The chord is tertian in structure, consisting of a root, third, and fifth.
• Adjective (Medicine):
  • The patient was diagnosed with tertian malaria.
  • A tertian fever pattern is characteristic of Plasmodium vivax infection.

Advanced Usage

• "Tertian harmony": The standard harmonic system in Western music where chords are built from superimposed thirds.
  • Jazz also relies heavily on the principles of tertian harmony.
• "Tertian fever/ague": A specific medical term for a fever with paroxysms recurring at 48-hour intervals.
  • The classic description of a tertian fever includes a cold stage, a hot stage, and a sweating stage.

Variants and Related Words

• None: "Tertian" is a specific adjective with no direct noun, verb, or adverb forms. Related terms are contextual:
  • In music: Third (n), Triad (n - a basic tertian chord).
  • In medicine: Quartan (adj - recurring every 72 hours/third day).

Synonyms

• For the medical sense: Intermittent (when referring to fever patterns), periodic.
• For the musical sense: There is no direct single-word synonym; it is described as "harmony in thirds."

Related Phrases/Idioms

• None: "Tertian" is a technical term and is not commonly used in idiomatic expressions.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. of or relating to a tonal system based on major thirds
   • a tertian tonal system
2. relating to symptoms (especially malarial fever) that appear every other day
   • tertian fever