Quincunxes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A configuration featuring five elements, with four positioned at the corners of a square and one placed centrally within the arrangement
2. An arrangement where four points are situated at the square's vertices and a fifth point is located at the center
3. A geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged such that four are located at the corners of a square with one at the square's center

Etymology: The plural "quincunxes" is the form of "quincunx," which English borrowed directly from Latin "quīncunx." That Latin word was a compound of "quinque," meaning five, and "uncia," an ounce or a twelfth part, so its literal sense was roughly "five-twelfths." The link to the five-dot pattern came from Roman coinage: the "as," the standard bronze coin, was divided into twelve units, and a coin's worth of five of these units was marked with a diagonal arrangement of five dots, four at the corners and one in the middle. The same five-dot layout then spread into everyday use. Roman planters set trees in this pattern so that each tree sat at the corner of a square and one stood at the centre, and gardeners and surveyors later called such arrangements by the same name. Because the pattern is easy to recognise at a glance, it also became familiar on dice and playing cards, where the five pips are arranged this way.