epithet
/ˈɛp.ɪˌθɛt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.87 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A term used to characterize a person or thing.
noun
A term used as a qualifier of the name of a deity in order to designate said deity in a particular aspect or role.
noun
A term used as a descriptive substitute for the name or title of a person.
noun
One of many formulaic words or phrases used in the Iliad and Odyssey to characterize a person, a group of people, or a thing.
noun
An abusive or contemptuous word or phrase.
Example Sentences
- "She would lean her head for hours on Beatrice's shoulder, only now and then applying to her some childish and endearing epithet."
- "Part of this process was the elaboration of new terms for the Jew, especially the increasingly popular epithet “kike”."
- "Counterprotesters shouted epithets as they walked by, but the opposing groups kept it nonviolent."
- "Politico reported that epithets appeared more than 251 times."
- "Her book includes an incisive discussion of misogyny on the New Right. [Laura K.] Field notes how “gynocracy” and “the longhouse” have become overwrought MAGA epithets for an unbearably feminized and pluralist society."
- "He was epitheted "the king of fools"."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épi Proto-Hellenic *epí Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí) Ancient Greek ἐπῐ- (epĭ-) Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti Ancient Greek τῐ́θημῐ (tĭ́thēmĭ) Ancient Greek ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi) Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) Ancient Greek ἐπίθετος (epíthetos) Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Hellenic *-on Ancient Greek -ον (-on) Ancient Greek ἐπίθετον (epítheton)lbor. Latin epithetonder. Middle French épithèteder. English epithet From Middle French épithète, from Latin epithetum, epitheton, from Ancient Greek ἐπίθετον (epítheton, “epithet, adjective”), the neuter of ἐπίθετος (epíthetos, “additional”), from ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi, “to add on”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “in addition”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”) (suf. possibly related to title in the sense of "ascribed appellation") (from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, to do”)). Doublet of epitheton.