epitaph

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɛpɪtæf/

• Audio (US)

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Etymology

Old French epitaphe, from Latin epitaphium (“eulogy”), from Ancient Greek ἐπιτάφιος (epitaphios, “relating to a funeral”), from ἐπί (epi, “over”) + τάφος (taphos, “tomb”).

Noun

epitaph (plural epitaphs)

1. An inscription on a gravestone in memory of the deceased.
2. A poem or other short text written in memory of a deceased person.

Translations

inscription on a gravestone

Bulgarian: надгробен надпис (bg) m. Catalan: epitafi (ca) m. Czech: epitaf (cs) m., náhrobní (cs) nápis (cs) m. Dutch: grafschrift (nl) Esperanto: tomboskribo (eo) Finnish: hautakirjoitus (fi), epitafi (fi) French: épitaphe (fr) f. German: Epitaph (de) n., Grabinschrift (de) f. Icelandic: grafskrift (is) f.

Interlingua: epitaphio (ia) Italian: epitaffio (it) m. Japanese: エピタフ (ja) (epitafu) Malay: epitaf (ms) Polish: epitafium (pl) n. Portuguese: epitáfio (pt) m. Russian: эпитафия (ru) f. Scottish Gaelic: leac-sgrìobhadh (gd) m. Spanish: epitafio (es) m.

commemorative poem or other text

Finnish: muistokirjoitus (fi), muistoruno (fi), epitafi (fi)

Icelandic: eftirmæli (is) n., (an obituary) minningargrein (is) f.

See also

• eulogy – oration about the dead, often at funeral
• obituary – published writing on the dead