![]() If you're familiar with Latin, you'll notice how "quincunx" literally means "five-twelfths." That's because, originally, a quincunx was an ancient Roman coin worth 5/12ths of a libra.īut you can probably forget about the "12ths" bit, because today we most often use "quincunx" to describe arrangements of five things: ![]() So wait: what does quintessential have to do with a fifth thing?Ĭan you recall? If you're not sure, the answer is here, near the top of the page. Those Latin bits are easy for us to spot in words like quintuple, quintillion, and Quinceañera (the celebration of a fifteenth birthday).Īnd quintessential, which, as you'll recall, means "purest, most typical." In Latin, quinque means "five," and quintus means "fifth."
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