Trivia

views updated May 29 2018

Trivia name by which John Gay invoked a ‘goddess of the highways’ in his poem Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), from Latin trivium ‘place where three roads meet’.

The modern word trivia ‘details, considerations, or pieces of information of little importance or value’ dates from the early 20th century.

trivia

views updated Jun 27 2018

triv·i·a / ˈtrivēə/ • pl. n. details, considerations, or pieces of information of little importance or value: we fill our days with meaningless trivia.