quintessence
/kwɪnˈtɛs.əns/
quintessence means A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.
quintessence is pronounced /kwɪnˈtɛs.əns/.
Why “quintessence” is a great word
The purest and most concentrated essence, or the most perfect example, of a quality or thing. From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French, from Medieval Latin *quinta essentia* ("fifth essence"), where *quint-* means "fifth" and *essentia* means "essence" or "element," referring to the Aristotelian fifth element (aether) believed to be superior to and purer than the four classical elements. Unlike "epitome," which is a perfect representative instance, or "prototype," which is an original model, quintessence is not a representative but an extraction—the abstract ideal distilled from any example. It is the single drop of attar that contains the entire rose, the concentrated flavor released from a stew by slow reduction, the silence at the center of a fugue where all voices momentarily concur—the impossible residue that remains when everything accidental has been burned away.
Etymology
From Middle English, borrowed from Middle French, from Medieval Latin quinta essentia (“fifth essence, aether”), equivalent to quint- + essence. "Essence" in this context is a synonym for "element". In pre-atomic/Aristotelian 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.
noun
- A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.“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 […]”
- A pure substance.
- The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.“For vvhat is ſilke but eu'n a Quinteſſence, / Made vvithout hands beyond al humane ſenſe? / A quinteſſence? nay vvel it may be call'd, / A deathleſſe tincture, ſent vs from the skies, / VVhoſe colour ſtands, vvhose gloſſe is ne're appalld, […]”
- The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water that fills the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.
- A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.
verb
- To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.
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