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quincunxes

 - 3 dictionary results

quin⋅cunx

  [kwing-kuhngks, kwin-]
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–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.
Origin:
1640–50; < L: five twelfths (quinc-, var. of quīnque- quinque- + uncia twelfth; see ounce 1 ); orig. a Roman coin worth five twelfths of an as and marked with a quincunx of spots
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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quin·cunx   (kwĭn'kŭngks')   
n.  An arrangement of five objects with one at each corner of a rectangle or square and one at the center.

[Latin quīncūnx, quīncūnc-, five twelfths : quīnque, five; see penkwe in Indo-European roots + ūncia, twelfth part of a unit; see ounce1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

quincunx 
1647, originally astrological, of planetary alignments, from L., lit. "five ounces," from quinque "five" + uncia "ounce, a twelfth part," related to unus "one." Applied, especially in garden design, to arrangements like the five pips on a playing card (1664).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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