epikeia

English

Alternative forms

• epieikeia

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek ἐπιεικής (epieikḗs)

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.

Ancient Greek -ιᾰ (-iă)

Ancient Greek ἐπιείκεια (epieíkeia)bor.

English epikeia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπιείκεια (epieíkeia, “reasonableness”).

Noun

epikeia (uncountable)

1. (philosophy, theology) The principle in ethics that a law can be broken to achieve a greater good.

References

• 'epikeia', in 'Catholic Almanac', b Felician A. Foy, St. Anthony's Guild, Rose M. Avato, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1995.
• epikeia