Tresayle

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A grandfather's grandfather; a great-great-grandfather. obsolete

    "If the abatement happened on the death of one's grandfather or grandmother, then an assise of mort d'ancestor no longer lies, but a writ of ayle or de avo: if on the death of the great-grandfather or great-grandmother, then a writ of be sayle, or de proavo: but if it mounts one degree higher, to the tresayle, or grandfather's grandfather, of if the abatement happened upon the death of any collateral relation, other than those before-mentioned, the write is called a writ of cosinage, or de consanguineo."

Example

More examples

"If the abatement happened on the death of one's grandfather or grandmother, then an assise of mort d'ancestor no longer lies, but a writ of ayle or de avo: if on the death of the great-grandfather or great-grandmother, then a writ of be sayle, or de proavo: but if it mounts one degree higher, to the tresayle, or grandfather's grandfather, of if the abatement happened upon the death of any collateral relation, other than those before-mentioned, the write is called a writ of cosinage, or de consanguineo."

Etymology

From Middle French trisayeul, from Latin tris, tres (“three”) + French aïeul (“grandfather”). Compare besaiel, and see ayle.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.