quaternary
pronunciation
How to pronounce quaternary in British English:
UK [kwə'tɜ:nərɪ]
How to pronounce quaternary in American English:
US [kwə'tənerɪ]
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- Noun:
- the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one
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- Adjective:
- consisting of or especially arranged in sets of four
- coming next after the third and just before the fifth in position or time or degree or magnitude
Word Origin
- quaternary (adj.)
- early 15c., "consisting of four parts," from Latin quaternarius "of four each, containing four," from quaterni "four each, by fours," from quater "four times," related to quattuor "four" (see four). Also as a noun, "the number four" (mid-15c.), from Latin quaternarius. In geological sense, attested from 1843 in English, proposed 1829 by French geologist Jules Pierre François Stanislas Desnoyers (1800-1887) as name for "the fourth great epoch of geological time," but because it comprises only the age of man, and the other epochs are many hundred times longer, not all accepted it.
Example
- 1. The find suggests that the entire area was once modified , probably under the orders of sneferu and other pharaohs of the old kingdom ( quaternary international , doi : 10.1016/j.quaint.2012.02.045 ) .
- 2. Optical properties of doped quaternary ammonium salt kdp crystals .
- 3. Dr ruddiman argues , in quaternary science reviews , that with vast tranches of land at their disposal and only unrefined agricultural techniques , early farmers had no incentive to maximise the potential of the land they farmed .
- 4. Is there really quaternary glaciation on lushan ?
- 5. Late quaternary high-resolution planktonic foraminifer stable isotope and faunal assemblage record of the southern benguela current .