quintessence
n. (fr. L.) “thefifth essence”of ancient and mediaeval philosophy;(Besides the four elements of fire,earth,air and water,the early alchemists believed that there was afifth essence,which was the highest,the best and pu-rest part of a thing.)i.e. ultimate essence,highestperfection（古代与中古哲学中的）第五要素(古时炼金术士认为在火、土、空气和水四大元素之外，还有第五种要素，是为最高元素);（事物的）精华，精萃，精髓。
△As.3.2.148(139):“Thequintessence of every sprite / Heaven would in littleshow.”上天以宇宙间的精英，尽萃于她娇小的一身。
△Ham. 2. 2. 328 (308):“And yet,to me,what is this quintes-sence of dust?”(Genesis 3: 19，“... dust thou art. and unto dust shalt thou return”.)但是，在我看来，这从尘土里提炼出来的精华又算得了什么呢？ (按：这话出于《圣经》中上帝用泥土造人的典故。)
quintain
quintessence[kwinˈtesns]
n. 精粹，精华，本质，典范，第五原质
‖ quintessence of beauty美的典型
quintessential adj.精粹的，精髓的