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Webster 1913 Edition

Trivial

Triv′i-al

,
Adj.
[L.
trivialis
, properly, that is in, or belongs to, the crossroads or public streets; hence, that may be found everywhere, common, fr.
trivium
a place where three roads meet, a crossroad, the public street;
tri-
(see
Tri-
) +
via
a way: cf. F.
trivial
. See
Voyage
.]
1.
Found anywhere; common.
[Obs.]
2.
Ordinary; commonplace; trifling; vulgar.
As a scholar, meantime, he was
trivial
, and incapable of labor.
De Quincey.
3.
Of little worth or importance; inconsiderable; trifling; petty; paltry;
as, a
trivial
subject or affair
.
The
trivial
round, the common task.
Keble.
4.
Of or pertaining to the trivium.
Trivial name
(Nat. Hist.)
,
the specific name.

Triv′i-al

,
Noun.
One of the three liberal arts forming the trivium.
[Obs.]
Skelton. Wood.

Webster 1828 Edition

Trivial

TRIV'IAL

,
Adj.
[L. trivialis; probably from Gr.; L. tero, trivi, to wear, or from trivium, a highway.]
1.
Trifling; of little worth or importance; inconsiderable; as a trivial subject; a trivial affair.
2.
Worthless; vulgar.
Trivial name, in natural history, the common name for the species, which added to the generic name forms the complete denomination of the species; the specific name. Thus in Lathyrus aphaca, Lathyrus is the generic name, and aphaca the trivial or specific name, and the two combined form the complete denomination of the species. Linne at first applied the term specific name to the essential character of the species, now called the specific definition or difference; but it is now applied solely to the trivial name.

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