What does tertiary mean?
Word: Tertiary
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Tertiary means third in order or importance, coming straight after secondary. It also describes study after school, such as at a college.
How do you spell tertiary?
Syllables: ter - tia - ry
Tricky part: The sh sound in the middle is spelt ti, so writing tershary or tersiary is the usual slip.
Watch out for: tershary, tersiary
Memory tip: Think of t and i as the third-place pair on the podium, standing together in the middle to make the sh sound.
Tertiary in a sentence
Example 1: After school, Ananya hopes to go on to tertiary study in Chennai.
Example 2: Banking and tourism belong to the tertiary sector of the economy.
Example 3: The team had a main plan, a backup, and a tertiary plan kept for emergencies.
Fun Fact
In art, a tertiary colour is made by mixing a primary colour with a neighbouring secondary one. Teal, for example, sits between blue and green.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
terrtiary
a) r
b) y
c) i
d) t
Show answer
a) r. Only one r comes ahead of the middle t.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
My sister has a place at a tertiery college in Mysuru next year.
a) tertiery
b) place
c) sister
d) college
Show answer
a) tertiery. The word ends in ary, as secondary does.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
ayrtrtei
a) tertiary
b) tributary
c) terrific
d) treasury
Show answer
a) tertiary. The jumble has two t's and two r's but no s, u or b.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) aniversary
b) vocabolary
c) temporery
d) tertiary
Show answer
d) tertiary. Vocabulary has a u after the b, temporary has a after the r, and anniversary has a double n.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which place fits the tertiary stage of education?
a) a nursery
b) a primary school
c) a middle school
d) a university
Show answer
d) a university
2. Which job belongs to the tertiary sector of the economy?
a) a steel worker
b) a rice farmer
c) a bus conductor
d) a coal miner
Show answer
c) a bus conductor
