quinary
Americanadjective
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pertaining to or consisting of five.
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arranged in fives.
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of, relating to, or noting a numerical system based on the number 5.
noun
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quinaries
plural
adjective
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consisting of fives or by fives
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fifth in a series
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(of a number system) having a base of five
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of quinary
1595–1605; < Latin quīnārius, equivalent to quīn ( ī ) five each + -ārius -ary
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Modern mathematicians would say that Gog, the wolf carver, used a five-based or quinary counting system.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Even in the South American binary counting schemes, linguists see the beginnings of a quinary system.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Numbers like seven and 31 belonged to all of these systems, quinary, decimal, and vigesimal alike.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
But it is at least equally probable that he instinctively divides his total into 2 tens, and thus passes unconsciously from the quinary into the decimal scale.
From The Number Concept Its Origin and Development by Levi Leonard Conant
The counting is evidently quinary, but the terms used must have been purely descriptive expressions, having their origin undoubtedly in certain gestures or finger motions.
From The Number Concept Its Origin and Development by Levi Leonard Conant
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
