quintessence

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French, from Medieval Latin quinta essentia (“fifth essence, aether”). "Essence" in this context is a synonym for "element". In pre-atomic/Aristotlean theory, there are four known elements or essences — Earth, Air, Fire and Water — and a putative fifth element (aether), which is considered to be of exceptional superior quality to the other four basic elements.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kwĭn-tĕsʹ-əns, kwĭn-tĕsʹ-ĭns, IPA^(key): /kwɪn.ˈtɛs.əns/, /kwɪn.ˈtɛs.ɨns/

Noun

quintessence (countable and uncountable, plural quintessences)

1. A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.
   • 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     As families and kindreds sometimes do; producing, after long ages of unnoted notability, some living quintescence of all the qualities they had, to flame forth as a man world-noted[.]

2. A pure substance.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

3. The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

4. (alchemy) The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water
5. (physics) A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.

Synonyms

• (most perfect example of its type): See also Thesaurus:model
• (pure substance): See also Thesaurus:non-mixture
• (essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form): See also Thesaurus:gist

Derived terms

• quintessential
• quintessentially

Translations

most perfect example of its type

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精粹 (zh) (jīngcuì), 典範／典范 (zh) (diǎnfàn), 典范 (zh) (diǎnfàn)

• Dutch: quintessens f
• Finnish: perikuva (fi), kvintessenssi
• French: quintessence (fr) f
• Galician: quintaesencia f
• Georgian: კვინტესენცია (ka) (ḳvinṭesencia)
• German: Inbegriff (de) m, Quintessenz (de) f
• Greek: πεμπτουσία (el) f (pemptousía)
• Interlingua: quintessentia
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: quintessenza (it) f
• Lithuanian: kvintesencija f
• Persian: نمونهٔ اعلی (nemune-ye a'lâ)
• Polish: kwintesencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: quintessência (pt) f
• Russian: квинтэссе́нция (ru) f (kvintessɛ́ncija)
• Spanish: quintaesencia (es) f
• Swedish: kvintessens (sv)
• Turkish: en mükemmel örnek (tr)

pure substance

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: quintessens f
• Finnish: kvintessenssi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Galician: quintaesencia f
• Georgian: კვინტესენცია (ka) (ḳvinṭesencia)
• Greek: πεμπτουσία (el) f (pemptousía)

essence in its most pure and concentrated form

• Armenian: քվինտ-էսենցիա (hy) (kʻvint-ēsencʻia), բուն էություն (bun ēutʻyun)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: quintessens f
• Finnish: kvintessenssi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Galician: quintaesencia f
• Georgian: კვინტესენცია (ka) (ḳvinṭesencia), დედაარსი (dedaarsi)
• Greek: πεμπτουσία (el) f (pemptousía)
• Maori: tino (mi)

Verb

quintessence (third-person singular simple present quintessenc, present participle es, simple past and past participle quintessenced)

1. (transitive) To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.

References

• “quintessence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “quintessence”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “quintessence”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

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French

Noun

quintessence f (plural quintessences)

1. quintessence (all senses)