# epithet

Pronunciation: say "EP-i-thet" /ˈɛp.ɪˌθɛt/

## Noun

1. An abusive or contemptuous word or phrase, such as a slur.
   - Simple: A rude, insulting word or name used to hurt someone.
   - _The senator apologized after an aide was caught using a racial epithet in a private chat._
   - _The coach was fired after players reported the epithets he used at practice._
2. A descriptive word or phrase that characterizes a person, god, or thing, often added to or used in place of a name, as in 'Alexander the Great' or 'grey-eyed Athena'.
   - Simple: A word or phrase describing someone or something, often added to or replacing a name, like 'the Great' in Alexander the Great.
   - _Reviewers kept reaching for the same epithet, calling the novel 'luminous' in nearly every notice._
   - _The general earned flattering epithets from the press after the campaign._
3. In the scientific names of plants, fungi and bacteria, a word following the genus or species name; for animals the matching term is the specific name.
   - Simple: In the scientific names of plants, fungi, and bacteria, a word that comes after the genus or species name.
   - _The botanist chose a specific epithet honoring the collector who first found the orchid._
   - _Subspecies and variety epithets follow the species name and are written in lowercase italics._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To call someone or something by a particular name or term.

## Origin

The Ancient Greek verb epitíthēmi ("to add on"), made of epi- ("in addition") and títhēmi ("to put"), goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰeh₁-, meaning "to put, to do." From it came epíthetos ("additional"), whose neuter epítheton ("epithet, adjective") passed into Latin as epithetum, epitheton and then into Middle French as épithète. Epitheton is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/epithet (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).