parcheesi (n.)

backgammon-like board game for four, 1800, pachisi, from Hindi pachisi, the name of a game played on a kind of cloth chess-board with cowries for dice, from pachis "twenty-five" (the highest throw of the dice in the game), from Sanskrit panca "five" (from PIE root *penkwe- "five") + vinsati-s "twenty." The modern spelling outside India, with unetymological -r-, was enshrined 1892 by the trademark name.

also from 1800

Entries linking to parcheesi

*penkwe-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "five."

It forms all or part of: cinquain; cinque; cinquecento; cinquefoil; fifteen; fifth; fifty; fin (n.) "five-dollar bill;" finger; fist; five; foist; keno; parcheesi; penta-; pentacle; pentad; Pentateuch; Pentecost; pentagon; pentagram; pentameter; pentathlon; Pentothal; Pompeii; Punjab; punch (n.2) "type of mixed drink;" quinary; quincunx; quinella; quinque-; quinquennial; quint; quintain; quintet; quintile; quintessence; quintillion; quintuple.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit panca, Greek pente, Latin quinque, Old Church Slavonic pęti, Lithuanian penki, Old Welsh pimp, Old English fif, Dutch vijf, Old High German funf.

Trends of parcheesi

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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updated on January 15, 2020

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