epitaph

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɛpɪtæf/

• Audio (US)

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Etymology

Old French epitafe, 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) (nadgroben nadpis) m
• Catalan: epitafi (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 墓誌銘 (cmn), 墓志铭 (cmn) (mùzhìmíng), 碑文 (cmn) (bēiwén)

• 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) (epitáfija) f, надгробная надпись (ru) (nadgróbnaja nádpisʹ) f
• Scottish Gaelic: leac-sgrìobhadh (gd) m
• Spanish: epitafio (es) m
• Swedish: epitafium (sv) n, epitaf (sv) n

commemorative poem or other text

• Finnish: muistokirjoitus (fi), muistoruno (fi), epitafi (fi)
• Icelandic: eftirmæli (is) n, (an obituary) minningargrein (is) f

• Russian: эпитафия (ru) (epitáfija) f

Verb

epitaph (third-person singular simple present epitaphs, present participle epitaphing, simple past and past participle epitaphed)

1. (intransitive) To write or speak after the manner of an epitaph.
   • Bishop Hall

     The common in their speeches epitaph upon him […] "He lived as a wolf and died as a dog."

2. (transitive) To commemorate by an epitaph.
   • G. Harvey

     Let me be epitaphed the inventor of English hexameters.

See also

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