quincunx
/ˈkwɪŋkʌŋks/
"quincunx" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“quincunx” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An arrangement of five units with four forming the corners of a square and the fifth at the centre of the square, a pattern corresponding to the five-spot on dice, playing cards, or dominoes.
Corpus desk
Index EN-quincunx · quincunx · English
quincunx · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "Q" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | quincunx |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkwɪŋkʌŋks/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “quincunx” in English
Rare enough to double-check
quincunx is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkwɪŋkʌŋks/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for quincunx, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin quīncunx. The correct English form is quincunx, spelled Q-U-I-N-C-U-N-X.
Definition
- 1An arrangement of five units with four forming the corners of a square and the fifth at the centre of the square, a pattern corresponding to the five-spot on dice, playing cards, or dominoes.
- 2An angle of five-twelfths of a circle, or 150°, between two objects.
- 3A Galton board.
- 4A bronze coin minted during the Roman Republic, valued at five-twelfths of an as.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how quincunx appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In 1873–74 Sir Francis Galton (Charles Darwin’s cousin) designed an apparatus that he later named the quincunx.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin quīncunx.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.