quaternary

See also: Quaternary

English

WOTD – 7 April 2006

English numbers ^(edit)

←  3	4	5  → [a], [b]
Cardinal: four     Ordinal: fourth     Abbreviated ordinal: 4th     Latinate ordinal: quartary, quaternary     Latinate reverse order ordinal: preantepenultimate     Adverbial: four times     Multiplier: fourfold     Latinate multiplier: quadruple     Distributive: quadruply     Germanic collective: foursome     Collective of n parts: quadruplet     Greek or Latinate collective: tetrad     Greek collective prefix: tetra-, tessera-     Latinate collective prefix: quadri-     Fractional: quarter, fourth     Elemental: quadruplet     Greek prefix: tetarto-     Number of musicians: quartet     Number of years: quadrennium, olympiad     Quantile: quartile

Etymology

Derived from Latin quaternārius (“containing or consisting of four”), from quaternī (“four each”, “four at a time”) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary); compare the French quaternaire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kwəˈtɜː.nə.ɹi/, (rare) /ˈkwɔːt.ən.(ə.)ɹi/
• IPA^(key): (US) /ˈkwɑ.tɚˌnɛɹ.i/, /ˈkwɑ.tɚˌnɛə.ɹi/

  • Audio (US):

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• Audio (Australia):

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Adjective

quaternary (not comparable)

1. Of fourth rank or order.

   the quaternary stress in a pronounced word

2. Of a mathematical expression containing e.g. x⁴.
3. Relating to or in number base four.
4. (organic chemistry) having a quaternary ammonium group.
   • 2013, Eric Prommer, “Anticholinergics in Palliative Medicine: An Update”, in American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®‎^[1], volume 30, number 5, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 490–498:

     The available anticholinergics are divided into the tertiary anticholinergics, which cross the blood–brain barrier, and the quaternary anticholinergics, which do not cross the blood–brain barrier.

   • 1992, R. S. Jones, “Muscle relaxants in canine anaesthesia 1: History and the drugs”, in Journal of Small Animal Practice‎^[2], volume 33, number 8, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 371–375:

     It was developed from pancuronium and differs from it only in the nature of the 2 p-atom which is tertiary as distinct from quaternary.

   • 1983, Jan Lundström, “Chapter 6 Simple Isoquinoline Alkaloids”, in The Alkaloids: Chemistry and Pharmacology‎^[3], volume 21, Elsevier, →DOI, →ISBN:

     Unfortunately two of these, 47 and 49, were named anhalotine and peyotine respectively, names already assigned to the quaternary compounds 43 and 45.

   • 1971, A. Ben Bassat, D. Lavie, H. Edery, G. Porath, “Quaternary pilocarpine derivatives acting as acetylcholine antagonists”, in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry‎^[4], volume 14, number 11, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 1066–1069:

     Several quaternary d-pilocarpine derivatives have been prepared in order to investigate the influence of structural changes on the biological activity of this alkaloid.

5. (inorganic chemistry) Composed of four elements.

Usage notes

The fourth ordinal from Latin that might etymologically follow tertiary is quartary, but quaternary (from the distributive number instead) is more usual in English.

Synonyms

• quartal
• quartary (obsolete)

Derived terms

• bisquaternary
• diquaternary
• nonquaternary
• pseudoquaternary
• quaternarily
• quaternarization
• quaternary ammonium
• quaternary care
• quaternary healthcare
• quaternary industry
• quaternary moon
• quaternary number
• quaternary sector
• quaternary sector of the economy
• quaternary structure
• quaternary twin
• quaternation
• quaternium

Related terms

• quaternion

Translations

of fourth rank or order

• Bulgarian: четвъртичен (četvărtičen)
• Catalan: quaternari m, quaternària f
• Estonian: neljas (et)
• Finnish: kvartäärinen (fi), kvaternaarinen
• French: d'ordre quatre, quaternaire (fr) m or f
• Italian: quaternario (it)
• Malay: aras empat, kuaterner (ms)
• Portuguese: quaternário (pt)
• Russian: четвертичный (ru) (četvertičnyj)

of mathematical expressions

• Finnish: neljännen asteen
• French: d'ordre quatre

See also

• unary, unitary (1)
  • primary (1st)
• binary (2)
  • secondary (2nd)
• ternary or trinary (3)
  • tertiary (3rd)
• quaternary (4)
  • quartary (4th)
  • tetranary (4)
• quinary (5)
• senary (6)
• septenary (7)
• octonary (8)
• novenary (9)
  • nonary (9th)
• denary (10)
• duodenary (12)
• vicenary (20)
• tricenary (30)
• sexagenary (60)
• centenary (100)

Noun

quaternary (plural quaternaries)

1. (chemistry) A quaternary compound.
2. (geology) The Quaternary period or the system of deposits laid down during it.

Derived terms

• negaquaternary