different between quincuncial vs quincunx

English

Etymology

From Latin quincuncialis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kw?n?k?n??l/

Adjective

quincuncial (comparative more quincuncial, superlative most quincuncial)

1. Arranged in a quincunx.
   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society 2007, p. 169:

     Of this Quincunciall Ordination the Ancients practised much, discoursed little [...].

   • 1985, Lawrence Durrell, Quinx, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 1297:

     In architecture the quincunxial shape was considered a sort of housing for the divine power – a battery, if you like, which gathered into itself the divinity as it tried to pour earthward, to earth itself – just like an electrical current does.

2. (botany) Having the leaves of a pentamerous calyx or corolla so imbricated that two are exterior, two are interior, and the other has one edge exterior and one interior.

   quincuncial aestivation

Derived terms

• quincuncially
• quincuncial phyllotaxy

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin qu?ncunx.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kw??k??ks/
• IPA^(key): /?kw?nk??ks/
• Rhymes: -??ks

Noun

quincunx (plural quincunxes or quincunces)

1. An arrangement of five units in a pattern corresponding to the five-spot on dice, playing cards, or dominoes.
2. (astrology) An angle of five-twelfths of a circle, or 150°, between two objects. [from 1647]
3. A Galton board.
   • 1998, Deborah J. Bennett, Randomness, Harvard University Press, p. 104

     In 1873–74 Sir Francis Galton (Charles Darwin’s cousin) designed an apparatus that he later named the quincunx.

4. (historical, numismatics) A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic, valued at five-twelfths of an as. [from 1545]

Derived terms

• quincuncial

Translations

Further reading

• quincunx on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

qu?nque +? uncia

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?k?i?n.ku?nks/, [?k?i??ku??ks?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?kwin.kunks/, [?kwi?ku?ks]
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?k?i?n.kunks/, [?k?i??k??ks?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?kwin.kunks/, [?kwi?ku?ks]

Because of Osthoff's Law, the length of the vowel in the second syllable is uncertain; see the note at uncia.

Noun

qu?nc??nx m (genitive qu?nc??ncis); third declension

1. five twelfths
2. the five on a die

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Descendants

• English: quincunx
• French: quinconce
• German: Quinkunx
• Spanish: quincunce

References

• quincunx in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• quincunx in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quincunx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
• quincunx in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quincunx in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin