Word.ws English Dictionary

1-2-3

UK/wʌn tuː θɹiː/US/wʌn tu θɹi/

1-2-3 noun: an achievement by a team of taking the first three positions in competition.

Noun

1-2-3

  1. An achievement by a team of taking the first three positions in competition.
    • He led another Italian 1-2-3 12 months ago in Portugal.
    • He could be the rider that upsets a Spanish 1-2-3 on the podium.

Verb

1-2-3 (third-person singular simple present 1-2-3s, present participle 1-2-3ing, simple past and past participle 1-2-3ed)

  1. (Philippines, colloquial) The act of not paying for the fare when riding a jeepney.

Forms of 1-2-3

third-person singular present1-2-3s
present participle1-2-3ing
past participle1-2-3ed
past1-2-3ed

Origin of 1-2-3

From 1 + 2 + 3.

Possibly the three steps of riding a jeepney, from Tagalog sakay (“ride”), hintay (“wait”), alis (“leave”), wherein it notably lacks the step of paying for the fare. Another possible source is the saying of "1, 2, 3" before jumping off a jeepney without paying.

Phrases with 1-2-3

Questions about 1-2-3

What does 1-2-3 mean?
1-2-3 means an achievement by a team of taking the first three positions in competition.
What part of speech is 1-2-3?
1-2-3 can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce 1-2-3?
1-2-3 is pronounced /wʌn tuː θɹiː/ (UK).

Words near 1-2-3 in the dictionary

  1. 1,4-naphthoquinone
  2. 1,6-Cleves acid
  3. 1,7-Cleves acid
  4. 1-1-8
  5. 1-2 punch
  6. 1-2-3
  7. 1-2-3 block
  8. 1-2-3 blocks
  9. 1-2-3ed
  10. 1-2-3ing
  11. 1-2-3s

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 1-2-3 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “1-2-3.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/1-2-3. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.