A triad is a polyamorous relationship among three people who all three have a bond with each other. Everyone is connected to everyone. That’s what sets a triad apart from a vee, where one person has two partners who have nothing with each other.

Is a triad the same as a throuple?

Largely, yes. Triad is the slightly more formal word from the polyamory world, throuple the everyday one. Both describe three people who are all connected to each other. Which word you use is mostly a matter of taste and context.

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Glossary

Triad

A polyamorous relationship among three people who are all bonded to one another.

What is a triad?

A triad is a polyamorous relationship among three people who all three have a bond with each other. Unlike a vee, where one person has two partners who have nothing with each other, in a triad everyone is connected to everyone. In everyday speech this is often called a throuple.

What it is	three people who are all connected to each other
Difference from a vee	in a vee, two of the three aren’t connected
Everyday word	throuple
Falls under	polyamory

Triad, vee or throuple?

The shape is in who is connected to whom. A triad is three people each connected sexually and emotionally to the other two, as against a vee, where one person is with two partners who have nothing with each other. Non-Monogamy Help notes that a triad can be open or closed: sometimes everyone can date outside it too, sometimes not. Throuple is largely another word for the same triangle, just a bit more everyday.

What a triad isn’t

“A triad is always closed.” No. Some triads are closed, others leave room for contact outside the three. The shape only says the three are connected to each other, not whether there’s a boundary around them.

What I see myself

I’m not part of relationship forms, and a triad is one of them. As a gigolo I stay outside it: I don’t become a fourth point and I change nothing about how the three of you have arranged things. For some women in a triad that’s exactly the appeal. A date with me sits apart from the web they live in at home, without anyone joining the relationship. What the three of you have agreed on, I leave exactly as it is.

Sources

What is a triad? Non-Monogamy Help. Supplies that a triad is three people connected to each other, that this differs from a vee, and that a triad can be open or closed.

Throuple. The everyday word for the same relationship of three.
Vee relationship. One person with two partners who aren’t connected to each other, the shape a triad is set against.
Polyamory. The umbrella a triad falls under.
Quad. The same idea, but with four connected people.

What is a triad?
A triad is a polyamorous relationship among three people who all three have a bond with each other. Everyone is connected to everyone. That’s what sets a triad apart from a vee, where one person has two partners who have nothing with each other.
Is a triad the same as a throuple?
Largely, yes. Triad is the slightly more formal word from the polyamory world, throuple the everyday one. Both describe three people who are all connected to each other. Which word you use is mostly a matter of taste and context.

Learn more

In a triad and curious about something outside it?

I'm Victor, a gigolo for women. I don't become an extra point in your relationship, just a separate date that stands on its own. Curious how that works? Feel free to ask, there's no obligation attached.

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