sepia

See also: Sepia, sépia, sępia, and sępią

English

Etymology

From Latin sēpia, from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía, “cuttlefish”), from σήψ (sḗps, “a kind of lizard, also a kind of serpent whose bite was alleged to cause putrefaction”). Compare Italian seppia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːpiə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːpiə

Noun

sepia (countable and uncountable, plural sepias)

1. A dark brown pigment made from the secretions of the cuttlefish. [from 1820s]
2. A dark, slightly reddish, brown colour.

   sepia:  

3. (by extension, countable) A sepia-coloured drawing or photograph.
4. (archaic, countable) The cuttlefish. [from 16th c.]

Translations

pigment

• Bulgarian: се́пия f (sépija)
• Catalan: sépia (ca) f
• Finnish: seepia (fi)
• French: sépia (fr) m
• Galician: sepia (gl) f
• German: Sepia (de) f
• Hungarian: szépia
• Irish: dúch cudail m
• Japanese: セピア (sepia)

• Portuguese: sépia (pt) f
• Romanian: sepia (ro) f
• Russian: се́пия (ru) f (sépija)
• Spanish: sepia (es) f
• Swedish: sepia (sv) c
• Tagalog: sepya
• Turkish: sepya (tr)

colour

• Bulgarian: се́пия f (sépija)
• Catalan: sèpia (ca) m
• Esperanto: sepio
• Finnish: seepia (fi)
• French: sépia (fr) m
• Galician: sepia (gl) m
• German: Sepia (de) f
• Hungarian: szépia

• Japanese: セピア色 (sepiairo)
• Maori: haurāhina
• Portuguese: sépia (pt)
• Romanian: sepia (ro) f
• Tagalog: sepya
• Turkish: sepya (tr)

drawing

• French: sépia (fr) m
• Japanese: セピア画 (sepiaga)

• Portuguese: sépia (pt)
• Romanian: sepia (ro) f

cuttlefish — see cuttlefish

Adjective

sepia (comparative more sepia, superlative most sepia)

1. (colour)  Of a dark reddish-brown colour.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

   • 1985 — Lance Parkin, The Infinity Doctors, p 209

     Only now did he realise how few colours there had been at the end of the universe. The world had been sepia, drained of colour and light.

   • 2021 July 14, “Modern Images”, in RAIL, number 935, page 37, photo caption:

     Dawn mist rolling off the adjacent North Downs creates a sepia effect over the river with no need for digital enhancement.

Translations

of a dark reddish-brown colour

• Bulgarian: се́пия (sépija)
• Catalan: sèpia (ca), sépia (ca)
• Esperanto: sepia
• French: sépia (fr)
• Japanese: セピア色の (sepiairo no)

• Portuguese: sépia (pt)
• Romanian: sepia (ro)
• Swedish: sepiafärgad (sv)

Related terms

• sepiolite

See also

• black and white
• color
• cuttlefish
• ink sac
• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• Aspie, aspie, paise

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sepia, via French or Italian from Latin sepia.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

sepia f or m (uncountable)

1. cuttlefish

Synonyms

• (cuttlefish): zeekat

Noun

sepia n (uncountable)

1. the color sepia
2. a style of yellowish/brownish-and-black photography

Further reading

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “sepia”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía), often suggested to be from Ancient Greek σήπειν (sḗpein, “to make rotten”), but (per Beekes) could instead possibly a Pre-Greek word.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈseː.pi.a/, [ˈs̠eːpiä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈse.pi.a/, [ˈsɛːpiä]

Noun

sēpia f (genitive sēpiae); first declension

1. a cuttlefish
2. the secretion of a cuttlefish used as ink

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sēpia	sēpiae
Genitive	sēpiae	sēpiārum
Dative	sēpiae	sēpiīs
Accusative	sēpiam	sēpiās
Ablative	sēpiā	sēpiīs
Vocative	sēpia	sēpiae

Synonyms

• (cuttlefish): lōlīgō

Descendants

• Catalan: sípia, → sépia (learned)
• → English: sepia
• French: seiche
• Galician: xiba
• → Hungarian: szépia
• Italian: seppia
• → Polish: sepia
• Portuguese: siba, → sépia (learned)
• → Romanian: sepia, sepie
• → Russian: сепия (sepija)
• Spanish: jibia, chipirón, → sepia (learned)

References

• sepia in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sepia in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sepia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• sepia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• sepia in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[2]
• sepia in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

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Polish

Etymology

From Latin sēpia, from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.pja/

Noun

sepia f

1. cephalopod ink
2. sepia (color)
3. (photography) sepia toning
4. cuttlefish

   Synonym: mątwa

Declension

Declension of sepia

	singular	plural
nominative	sepia	sepie
genitive	sepii	sepii/sepij
dative	sepii	sepiom
accusative	sepię	sepie
instrumental	sepią	sepiami
locative	sepii	sepiach
vocative	sepio	sepie

Derived terms

• (adjective) sepiowy

Further reading

• sepia in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• sepia in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēpia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsepja/, [ˈse.pja]

Noun

sepia f (plural sepias)

1. cuttlefish

   Synonyms: jibia, cachón, choco

Derived terms

• sepia faraón

 

Further reading

• “sepia” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.