Etymology

pentacyclic

P3E1N1T1A1C3Y4C3L1I1C3

Today it means: Having five rings, especially five fused rings as in many triterpenoids. Full definition →

English cyclic ← Classical Latin cyclicus ← French cyclique
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pénkʷe
  2. Proto-Hellenic*pénkʷe
  3. Ancient Greekπέντε (pénte)
  4. Ancient Greekπεντᾰ- (pentă-)
  5. Englishpenta-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
  7. Proto-Indo-European*kʷékʷlos
  8. Proto-Hellenic*kʷókʷlos
  9. Proto-Hellenic*kúklos
  10. Ancient Greekκύκλος (kúklos)
  11. Ancient Greekκυκλῐκός (kuklĭkós)
  12. Classical Latincyclicu
  13. Middle Frenchcyclique
  14. Frenchcyclique
  15. Classical Latincyclicus
  16. Englishcyclic
  17. English todaypentacyclic

From penta- + cyclic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.