pentacle

American  

[pen-tuh-kuhl] / ˈpɛn tə kəl /

noun

1. pentagram.

2. a similar figure, as a hexagram.

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pentacle British  

/ ˈpɛntəkəl /

noun

1. another name for pentagram

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Etymology

Origin of pentacle

First recorded in 1585–95, pentacle is from the Italian word pentacolo five-cornered object. See penta-, -cle ¹

Explanation

A five-pointed star can be called a pentacle. Some pagan religions consider the pentacle to be a deeply spiritual symbol. The pentacle — which is also called a pentagram — has been thought of as having protective or powerful magical properties for hundreds of years. The fact that a pentacle can be drawn with one continuous line is sometimes seen as meaningful or mystical. Pentacles are often used as one of the four suits in a tarot deck of fortune-telling cards (although sometimes they're called "coins"). The Greek root of pentacle is pente, "five."

Example Sentences

As part of “Suspending Time,” a dance series presented with the arts organization Pentacle, the choreographer Zvi Gotheiner offers “Stairway,” a 20-minute site-specific work taking place along the museum’s spiral staircase.

From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2018

Since 2009, he has documented his passion for the creek — in oddly beautiful photography and beautifully odd prose — on his blog, The Newtown Pentacle.

From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2012

The yearly retainer required by a firm like Pentacle, she added, was simply unrealistic for choreographers like herself, who have unpredictable finances and no set company structure, and work project to project.

From New York Times • Dec. 31, 2010

I was made conscious of it, rather by some inward, unused sense than by either sight or sound; for the pale, short-radius glare of the Pentacle gave but a very poor light for seeing by.

From Carnacki, the Ghost Finder by Hodgson, William Hope

The Third Pentacle of Mercury.—"This serves to invoke the Spirits subject unto Mercury; and especially those who are written in this Pentacle."

From Bygone Beliefs: being a series of excursions in the byways of thought by Redgrove, H. Stanley (Herbert Stanley)