A quintuplet is one of five babies born to the same mother at the same time. When a woman gives birth to quintuplets, she delivers five infants instead of the usual one. Quintuplets are extremely rare.

You might recognize a connection to the word quintet, which is a group of five musicians. Quintuplets can be identical (all developing from the same egg), fraternal (each from a different egg), or a combination of both.

Because carrying five babies is so demanding on a mother's body, quintuplets are almost always born prematurely and need special medical care after birth. Modern fertility treatments have made quintuplets slightly more common than they used to be, though they're still extraordinary.

When quintuplets are born, they often attract significant attention. The Dionne quintuplets, born in Canada in 1934, became world-famous because they were the first quintuplets known to survive early infancy. Growing up as a quintuplet means always having four siblings exactly your age, which creates a unique family dynamic that most people never experience.