epitome

See also: epítome

English

WOTD – 19 September 2010

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin epitome, epitoma, from Ancient Greek ἐπιτομή (epitomḗ, “an abridgment, also a surface-incision”), from ἐπιτέμνω (epitémnō, “I cut upon the surface, cut short, abridge”), from ἐπί (epí) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˈpɪt.ə.mi/, /ɪˈpɪt.ə.mi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

epitome (plural epitomes or epitomai)

1. (of a class of items) The embodiment or encapsulation of.
2. (of a class of items) A representative example.
3. (of a class of items) The height; the best.
4. (of a written document) A brief summary.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

The sense ‘the height, the best’ is considered incorrect by some; instead, 'pinnacle' may be preferred.

Synonyms

• (an embodiment of): in a nutshell (modern idiom), synopsis
• (the best): greatest
• (a summary): abstract, synopsis

Antonyms

• antithesis

Derived terms

Derived terms

• epitomic
• epitomical

• epitomize
• epitomous

Related terms

• epitomator
• epitomist
• epitomizer

Translations

embodiment or encapsulation of

• Afrikaans: toonbeeld
• Albanian: mishërim (sq)
• Arabic: مَثَال‏‎ m (maṯāl)
• Belarusian: ўвасабленне (ŭvasabljénnje)
• Bulgarian: въплъщение (bg) n (vǎplǎšténie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 縮影 (zh), 缩影 (zh) (suōyǐng)

• Czech: ztělesnění
• Danish: indbegrebet
• Dutch: verwezenlijking (nl) f, belichaming (nl) f, personificatie f
• Estonian: epitoom
• Finnish: ruumiillistuma
• French: résumé (fr), épitomé (fr) m
• Galician: epítome
• German: Verkörperlichung f
• Greek: επιτομή (el) (epitomí)

• Hebrew: תמצית‏‎ (tamtsot)
• Hungarian: összegzés (hu)
• Icelandic: ímynd (is)
• Italian: epitome (it)
• Japanese: 縮図 (しゅくず, shukuzu)
• Norwegian: innbegrepet
• Persian: خلاصه‏‎ (fa)
• Portuguese: epítome (pt)
• Russian: воплоще́ние (ru) (voploščénije), олицетворе́ние (ru) n (olicetvorénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: епитом m, утјеловљење n, персонификација, оваплоћење n

  Roman: epitom m, utjelovljenje (sh) n, personifikacija (sh) f, ovaploćenje (sh) n

• Spanish: epítome (es)
• Swedish: sammandrag (sv), personifiering (sv) c, inbegrepp n, inkarnation (sv) c
• Turkish: özet (tr)
• Yiddish: יפּיטאַמי‏‎ (ifitomi)

representative example

• Finnish: ruumiillistuma, malliesimerkki
• French: personnification (fr) f, incarnation (fr) f
• Italian: personificazione (it) f, incarnazione f

• Romanian: personificare (ro) f
• Russian: образец (ru) m (obrazec)
• Swedish: personifikation (sv)

the height; the best

• Dutch: toppunt (nl) n
• Italian: apice (it) m

• Russian: эталон (ru) m (etalon)

summary

• Bulgarian: резюме (bg) n (rezjume)
• Dutch: samenvatting (nl) f, synopsis (nl) f, uittreksel (nl) n, excerpt (nl) n
• Finnish: tiivistelmä (fi), abstrakti (fi), yhteenveto (fi)
• French: résumé (fr), abrégé (fr)
• German: Abriss (de) m
• Irish: gearrinsint f

• Italian: compendio (it) m, sommario (it) m, sunto (it) m, sinossi (it) f, epitome (it)
• Portuguese: epítome (pt)
• Russian: конспе́кт (ru) m (konspékt), краткое (kratkoje) изложе́ние (izložénije) (krátkoje izložénije) n, резюме́ (ru) n (rezjumɛ́)
• Serbo-Croatian: sinopsis (sh), epitom
• Spanish: epítome (es), resumen (es), sinopsis (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Manx: ^{(please verify)} aagherrid m

Further reading

• epitome in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• epitome in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Italian

Noun

epitome f (plural epitomi)

1. epitome

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Latin

Alternative forms

• epitoma

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐπιτομή (epitomḗ), from ἐπιτέμνω (epitémnō), from ἐπί (epí) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /eˈpi.to.meː/, [ɛˈpɪ.tɔ.meː]

Noun

epitomē f (genitive epitomēs); first declension

1. epitome, abridgement

Inflection

First declension, Greek type.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	epitomē	epitomae
genitive	epitomēs	epitomārum
dative	epitomae	epitomīs
accusative	epitomēn	epitomās
ablative	epitomē	epitomīs
vocative	epitomē	epitomae

Descendants

• English: epitome

References

• epitome in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• epitome in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “epitome” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• epitome in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• epitome in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016