Trefoil

Trefoil (from Latin trifolium, "three-leaved plant", French trefle, German Dreiblatt and Dreiblattbogen) is a clear form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings acclimated in architectonics and Christian symbolism. The term is aswell activated other symbols of three-fold shape.

Trefoil is a term in Gothic architectonics given to the ornament foliation or cusping introduced in thehead of window-lights, tracery, panellings, etc., in which the center takes the form of a three-lobed leaf (formed from three partially-overlapping circles). One of the ancient examples is in the plate architecture at Winchester (1222 - 1235). The fourfold adaptation of an architectural trefoil is a quatrefoil.

A trefoil accumulated with an equilaternal triangle was aswell a moderately accepted symbol of the Christian Trinity during the late Middle Ages in some locations of Europe.