quincunx
noun
Pronunciation
KWIN-kunks
Definition
- an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle
Examples
The sculptures in the square were arranged in a quincunx with the outer ones marking the perimeter and the middle one serving as the centerpiece.
"The towers of Angkor Wat—shaped in a quincunx, five points in a cross—were named after Mount Meru, the home of the gods believed in Indian myth to lie at the center of the world." — William Dalrymple, The New York Review of Books, 21 May 2015
Did You Know?
In ancient Rome, a quincunx was a coin with a weight equal to five twelfths of a libra, a unit of weight similar to our pound. The coin's name comes from the Latin roots quinque, meaning "five," and uncia, meaning "one twelfth." The ancients used a pattern of five dots arranged like the pips on a die as a symbol for the coin, and English speakers applied the word to arrangements similar to that distinctive five-dot mark.
Test Your Vocabulary
Fill in the blanks to create a Latin-based adjective meaning "of, relating to, or proceeding by twelve": d _ _ de _ i _ al.
Merriam-Webster
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