antiphon
/ˈæntɪfən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.04 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
name
an Ancient Greek sophist who wrote several philosophical treatises (480 – 411 BCE)
Example Sentences
- "Father Vaillant came back in his vestments, with his pyx and basin of holy water, and began sprinkling the bed and the watchers, repeating the antiphon, Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor."
- "The Clown […] says: ‘And so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed’; to which his father, the Shepherd, adds the comfortable antiphon, ‘We may live, son, to shed many more.’"
Etymology
From French antiphone or Medieval Latin antiphōna, from Ancient Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna, “responses, musical accords”), neuter plural substantive of ἀντίφωνος (antíphōnos, “concordant”) from ἀντί (antí, “in return”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). Doublet of anthem.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Music, People.