Quincunx
1.
A copper Roman coin weighing five ounces (
quinque unciae), whence the
name. It was marked by five balls (cf. the illustration under
Quadrans), and was valued at five-twelfths of an
as. It is extremely rare, there being no specimens even in the British Museum.
2.
The name given to an arrangement of things by fives after the fashion of the points on a
die, thus:
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Quincunx.
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and to a series arranged in this way:
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Quincunx (series).
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It was a favourite method of arranging trees (
De Sen. 17). The French use
the same word in the phrase en quinconce.
