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quintain

UK/ˈkwɪntɪn/US/ˈkwɪntɪn/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

A quintain is a target set up for knights to charge at in practice. Ride at the quintain.

The good ones swung round on a post and hit a slow rider in the back. A quintain taught speed and a straight lance more effectively than any instructor could.

Coleby · Public domain

Definitions of quintain

  1. 1nounquintainA target set up for knights to charge at in practice.C2

    “The quintain swung round and knocked him clean off.”

quintain is a target.

Where it comes from

Anglo-Norman quintaine probably comes from Latin quintana, the street between the fifth and sixth maniples of a Roman camp, where such practice was held.

  1. Latin

    quīntāna — street separating fifth and sixth maniples in a Roman camp

  2. Middle French

    quintaine

  3. Anglo-Norman

    quintaine

  4. English, today

    quintain

Built from

  • quintanus · Latin — pertaining to the fifth

From Anglo-Norman quintaine, quinteine, Middle French quintaine, probably from Latin quīntāna (“street separating fifth and sixth maniples in a Roman camp”), feminine form of quintanus (“pertaining to the fifth”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

quintain in the wild

  • Offham has a quintain on the village green that was reported in medieval times for use in jousting.

    Offham, Kent

  • Mukhammas refers to a type of Persian or Urdu cinquain or quintain/pentastich with Sufi connections based on a pentameter.

    Mukhammas

  • A quintain or pentastich is any poetic form containing five lines.

    Quintain (poetry)

  • Slovene quintain is a traditional Slovene mounted folk game, a form of jousting, that has been preserved in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia.

    Slovene quintain

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.