ushabti
/uːˈʃabti/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.05 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
In Ancient Egypt, a figurine of a dead person, placed in their tomb to do their work for them in the afterlife.
Example Sentences
- "These little images were called in Egyptian “Ushabti,” or “Respondents,” and were in fact supposed to act as servants of the deceased, it being their duty to answer for him and serve as his substitutes when called upon to do labourer's work [...]."
- "The air was all at once full of Egyptian and Greek tear-bottles, Ushabti, and Sèvres."
- "Spectacular objects began to surface throughout the world; […] elaborate ivory powder boxes engraved with peacocks or pictures of lions and unicorns playing draughts, precious ushabtiu figures, the combs of an unknown princess, her red ivory jars of frankincense and eye paint, copper coffers, poison rings, diadems."
Etymology
Borrowed from Egyptian w-S-b-t:y-A53 (wšbtj, “ushabti”, literally “answerer”), by folk etymology from earlier SA-wA-b-t:y-A53 (šꜣwꜣbtj), perhaps from S-wA-b-M1 (šwꜣb, “persea (tree)”), which may have been the material they were originally made from. The variant forms shawabti, shabti are borrowed directly from the earlier Egyptian forms šꜣwꜣbtj and šꜣbtj, respectively.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wšbtj
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /uːˈʃabti/