Word.ws English Dictionary

quinquefoil

/ˈkwɪŋkwɪfɔɪl/

quinquefoil is the alternative form of cinquefoil.

Meaning of cinquefoil

Noun

cinquefoil (plural cinquefoils)

  1. A potentilla (flower).
    • Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up the chimney to their Sabbaths. One such ointment was composed of Aconite, Belladonna, Water Parsley, Cinquefoil and Babies' Fat.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112
  2. A stylized flower or leaf with five lobes.
  3. A particular knot of five crossings.
    Synonyms:
    cinquefoil knot, 5_1, T(5,2)

Forms of quinquefoil

pluralquinquefoils

Origin of quinquefoil

Alteration of cinquefoil after the original Latin etymon quīnquefolium.

Questions about quinquefoil

What is quinquefoil the alternative form of?
Quinquefoil is the alternative form of cinquefoil.
How do you pronounce quinquefoil?
Quinquefoil is pronounced /ˈkwɪŋkwɪfɔɪl/.

Words near quinquefoil in the dictionary

  1. quinquedentate
  2. quinquedentated
  3. quinquedigitate
  4. quinquefarious
  5. quinquefid
  6. quinquefoil
  7. quinquefoils
  8. quinquefoliate
  9. quinquefoliated
  10. quinquefoliolate
  11. quinquefolium

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quinquefoil (page history and authors); cinquefoil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “quinquefoil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quinquefoil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.