quint
UK[kwɪnt]US[kwɪnt]
n
A sequence of five cards of the same suit in piquet or other card games.
n
(informal) A quintuplet (one of five children born at the same birth).
Morpheme Breakdown
quint
quint
five
Etymology
The word 'quint' is a direct borrowing from the French 'quinte', which itself descends from the Latin ordinal number 'quintus', meaning "fifth". The Latin 'quintus' is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root penkwe-, the ultimate source for the number five across many Indo-European languages. In English, 'quint' functions as a clipped form, specifically used in the context of card games to denote a sequence of five, and more generally as an informal shortening of 'quintuplet', directly preserving the core numerical meaning of its ancient ancestor.
Analysis
Structure: quint (five)
quint (Latin, numeral root meaning "five").
Examples
He scored heavily by declaring a quint in spades.
The family made headlines when they welcomed a set of quints.
In piquet, a quint is a valuable combination.