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An arrangement of five objects or marks 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.]


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) botany a quincuncial arrangement of sepals or petals in the bud
3. (Astrology) astrology an aspect of 150° between two planets
[C17: from Latin: five twelfths, from quinque five + uncia twelfth; in ancient Rome, this was a coin worth five twelfths of an as2 and marked with five spots]


(ˈkwɪŋ kʌŋks, ˈkwɪn-)

[1640–50; < Latin: five twelfths =quinc-, variant of quīnque- quinque- + -unx, s. -unc- comb. form of uncia twelfth (see ounce1); orig. a Roman coin worth five twelfths of an as and marked with a quincunx of spots]
quin•cun′cial (-ʃəl) adj.
quin•cun′cial•ly, adv.
References in periodicals archive ?
No two of the roundels in the superimposed quincunxes are quite the same and the infill panels are all different.
The banana trees, as green as jealousy itself, are laid out in quincunxes, as are the workers who replace the bridge's rectangular beams.