Pronounced: VAY-purr, verb
Notes: I know what the noun means, but the verb had a surprise definition
Yesterday’s word
The word quinary means
- relating to five
- fifth in a series
- having five things or arranged in five
First usage
Our word came into English in the very late 1500s
Background / Comments
Most of us know the words “primary” and “secondary”. Many probably know “tertiary”. I don’t know how many know that the next one is “quaternary”. With our word, you now know what comes next: quinary. You have have (correctly) guessed that our word related to five: it came from the Latin word quinarius (containing five), which came from quini (five each), which came from quinque (five).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 