quintessence
noun
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Long ago, when people believed that everything was made up of four elements—earth, air, fire, and water—they thought the stars and planets were made up of yet another element. In the Middle Ages, people called this element by its Medieval Latin name, quinta essentia, literally, "fifth essence." They believed the quinta essentia was essential to all kinds of matter, and if they could somehow isolate it, it would cure all disease. People have since given up on that idea, but English users have kept quintessence, the offspring of quinta essentia, as a word for the purest essence of a thing. Some modern physicists have given quintessence a new twist—they use it to refer to a form of the dark energy believed to make up almost 70 percent of the energy in the observable universe.
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Examples of quintessence in a Sentence
Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2021
True to its low-impact quintessence, the culinary program takes a farm-to-table approach emphasizing fresh, local ingredients.
—Lindsay Cohn, Travel + Leisure, 10 May 2024
To some, quintessence was a subtle substance found in some degree in each of the other four elements.
—Meg Neal, Popular Mechanics, 10 Feb. 2021
The very quintessence of a group effort.
—Sean Carroll, Discover Magazine, 6 July 2012
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“Quintessence.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintessence. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
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quintessence
noun
Middle English quintessence "the substance from which heavenly bodies are formed (according to medieval belief)," from early French quinte essence (same meaning), from Latin quinta essentia, literally, "fifth essence," from earlier quinta, feminine form of quintus "fifth," and earlier essentia "essence"
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