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A loop of beads in five groups of ten, with a short pendant tail ending in a crucifix.
Also known as: Rosary beads, Catholic prayer beads, Paternoster beads
A rosary is a Catholic counting device: a closed loop carrying five groups of ten small beads separated by single larger ones, from which hangs a short tail of a few beads ending in a crucifix. The structure is the identification — a loop with a tail, rather than a plain closed circle — and the counting corresponds to a fixed sequence of prayers. Other Christian traditions use related but differently constructed cords and beads.
Is structurally a loop with a tail: five groups of ten beads round the loop, separated by single larger beads, and a short pendant string ending in a crucifix. That construction distinguishes it at a glance from a plain closed circle of beads.
Counts a fixed sequence of prayers rather than an arbitrary number of repetitions, which is why the groupings are uneven and why the larger beads matter.
Contexts: Religion
Has relatives rather than equivalents in other Christian traditions — Orthodox prayer ropes of knotted wool and Anglican rosaries with a different bead count among them — so a bead string with a cross on it is not necessarily a rosary.
Contexts: Religion
A closed ring of small beads punctuated by five larger single beads, with a short strand of beads hanging from a junction and ending in a small cross bearing a figure.
The pendant terminal is a crucifix.
Both are counting loops of beads.