Etymology

pentavalent

P3E1N1T1A1V4A1L1E1N1T1

Today it means: Having an atomic valence of 5. Full definition →

English penta- ← Ancient Greek πεντᾰ- (pentă-) ← Proto-Hellenic *pénkʷe
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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. English todaypentavalent

From penta- + -valent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.