pentagram

[pen-tuh-gram]

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noun

a five-pointed, star-shaped figure made by extending the sides of a regular pentagon until they meet, used as an occult symbol by the Pythagoreans and later philosophers, by magicians, etc.

Origin of pentagram

From the Greek word pentágrammon, dating back to 1825–35. See penta-, -gram¹

Also called pentacle, pentangle, pentalpha.

Related formspen·ta·gram·mat·ic

[pen-tuh-gruh-mat-ik] /ˈpɛn tə grəˈmæt ɪk/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pentagram

cinquefoil, pentangle, quintuple, lustrum, cinque, quinquennium, pentacle, quintuplet, pentagon, limerick, pentad, quincunx, quinquennial, quintuplicate

Examples from the Web for pentagram

Contemporary Examples of pentagram

One of those men was Jake Ferguson—a drugged-out ex-criminal with natty dreadlocks and a pentagram tattooed on his forehead.
Eco-Terrorism Documentary Incites Debate
Marlow Stern
June 26, 2011

Historical Examples of pentagram

Then he calls a rat to gnaw a gap in the pentagram, and escapes.
The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust'
H. B. Cotterill
"The virtues of the Pentagram endure," he said, with absolute self-possession.
The Prince of India, Volume I
Lew. Wallace
Pentagram, pen′ta-gram, n. a five-pointed star: a magic figure so called.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)
Various
The floor was of red lacquer, and in it was inlaid a pentagram the size of the room, made of wide strips of brass.
Black Spirits and White
Ralph Adams Cram
In the centre of this pentagram was a circular disk of black stone, slightly saucer-shaped, with a small outlet in the middle.
Black Spirits and White
Ralph Adams Cram

British Dictionary definitions for pentagram

pentagram

noun

a star-shaped figure formed by extending the sides of a regular pentagon to meet at five points

such a figure used as a magical or symbolic figure by the Pythagoreans, black magicians, etc

Also called: pentacle, pentangle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pentagram

"five-pointed star," 1820, from Greek pentagrammon, noun use of neuter of adj. pentagrammos "having five lines," from pente "five" (see five) + gramma "what is written" (see grammar).