An athletic contest in which each athlete competes in five different events.

The Greek word *athlos* means “contest or trial,” so to be an *athlete* you had to compete in physical contests. The ancient Greek pentathlon tested warriors' skills in sprinting, long jumping, javelin throwing, discus throwing, and wrestling, none of which are part of today's Olympic pentathlon. But a *pentathlete* must still have muscles and reflexes suited to almost any kind of physical feat. See also *decathlon*.

The first five books of the Old Testament, traditionally said to have been written by Moses.

*Pentateuch* means simply “five books.” In Greek, the Pentateuch (which Jews call the Torah) includes the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These contain some of the oldest and most famous stories in the Bible, including those of Adam and Eve, Jacob and his brothers, and Moses, as well as some of the oldest codes of law known, including the Ten Commandments.

A line of poetry consisting of five metrical feet.

In a line of poetry written in perfect *iambic pentameter*, there are five unstressed syllables, each of which is followed by a stressed syllable. Each pair of syllables is a metrical foot called an *iamb.* Much of the greatest poetry in English has been written in iambic pentameter; Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton used it more than any other meter. Robert Frost's line “I'm going out to clean the pasture spring” is an example of it; his “And miles to go before I sleep” is instead an example of iambic *tetrameter,* with only four accented syllables.

Of or relating to any of various fundamentalist sects that stress personal experience of God and vocal expression in worship.

In ancient Greek, *pentekoste* meant “fiftieth day”—that is, the fiftieth day after Easter (counting Easter itself). On that day, Christians celebrate an event described in the Bible that took place fifty days after Christ's resurrection, when the apostles heard the rush of a mighty wind, saw tongues of fire descending on them, and heard the Holy Spirit speaking from their own mouths but in other tongues (languages). “ Speaking in tongues,” when everyone in a congregation may begin talking in languages that no one can understand, is the best-known practice of *Pentecostals*. Pentecostals belong to many different denominations; with growing numbers especially in Latin America and Africa, there may be over 500 million Pentecostals worldwide. ## QUINT **QUINT** comes from the Latin word meaning “five.” *Quintuplets* are babies that come in sets of five; about 60 U.S. families increase in size by that number every year.

A 500th anniversary, or the celebration of such an event.

The United States is such a young country that it will be quite some time before we reach our quincentennial as a nation: 2276 A.D., to be exact. Some American cities will celebrate their quincentennials long before that, but even St. Augustine, Florida, the nation's oldest city, will have to wait until 2065. Meanwhile, many young people can look forward happily to our national *tricentennial* in 2076; and their grandchildren may be around for our *quadricentennial* in 2176.

Representing the purest or most perfect example of something.

The philosophers and scientists of the ancient world and the Middle Ages believed that the world we inhabit was entirely made up of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Aristotle added a fifth element, the *aether* or *ether*, by which he meant the material that fills the rest of space, mostly invisibly but sometimes taking the form of stars and planets. Many writers described the element as a kind of invisible light or fire. In the Middle Ages, it was referred to as the *quinta essentia* (“fifth element”). It isn't surprising that the *quinta essentia* came to stand for anything so perfect that it seemed to surpass the limitations of earth. Today we generally use *quintessential* rather freely to describe just about anything that represents the best of its kind.

(1) A musical piece for five instruments or voices. (2) A group of five, such as the performers of a quintet or a basketball team.

A classical quintet is usually written for strings (usually two violins, two violas, and a cello) or woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn), but brass quintets (two trumpets, horn, trombone, and tuba) have also become popular in North America recently. In jazz, Miles Davis led two famous quintets. In pop music, the Miracles, the Temptations, and the Jackson 5 were immensely popular vocal quintets. In rock, one of the most common instrumental lineups has been a quintet consisting of two guitars, a bass, a keyboard, and drums; famous rock quintets have included the Grateful Dead and the Beach Boys.

Americans love statistics about themselves, whether they inform us about our income, ice-cream consumption, or trash production. And any such rating can be divided into fifths, or quintiles. The fifth or lowest quintile would include the 20 percent of the population who make the least money or eat the least ice cream or generate the least trash, and the first quintile would include the 20 percent who make, eat, or generate the most.