quincunx

[kwing-kuhngks, kwin-]

noun

1. an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

2. Botany.,  an overlapping arrangement of five petals or leaves, in which two are interior, two are exterior, and one is partly interior and partly exterior.

quincunx

/ ˈkwɪnkʌŋks /

noun

1. a group of five objects arranged in the shape of a rectangle with one at each of the four corners and the fifth in the centre

2. botany a quincuncial arrangement of sepals or petals in the bud

3. astrology an aspect of 150° between two planets

Word History and Origins

Origin of quincunx¹

1640–50; < Latin: five twelfths ( quinc-, variant of quīnque- quinque- + uncia twelfth; ounce ¹ ); originally a Roman coin worth five twelfths of an as and marked with a quincunx of spots

Word History and Origins

Origin of quincunx¹

C17: from Latin: five twelfths, from quinque five + uncia twelfth; in ancient Rome, this was a coin worth five twelfths of an _as ² and marked with five spots

Example Sentences

In fact, a few of them wind up at the far edges of the quincunx’s bottom rack.

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Ainsley’s gemstones and Siraj’s quincunx both earned an honorable mention.

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“It’s a quincunx for probability distribution analysis,” says Siraj.

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The crossed bones reference the four directions of the Aztec calendar meeting together at the heart of the world, called the quincunx; that’s the knob.

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“The Quincunx of Heaven runs low, and ’tis time to close the five ports of knowledge,” he writes in his conclusion to “The Garden of Cyrus,” his essay on the geometric patterns of plantations in the ancient and modern world.

Read more on New York Times