Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

effigy

UK/ˈɛfəd͡ʒi/US/ˈɛfəd͡ʒi/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,129 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: effigies

An effigy is a model of a person, often burnt in protest. Burn him in effigy.

Burning one is a very old way of attacking somebody who cannot be reached. An effigy on a tomb is the other main sense and is carved rather than made to be destroyed.

Pete Birkinshaw · CC BY 2.0

Definitions of effigy

  1. 1nouneffigyA model of a person, often burnt in protest.C1

    “The effigy on the bonfire was recognisable to everybody in the town.”

effigy is a model.

Where it comes from

Latin effigies comes from effingere, to form or portray, from ex plus fingere, to shape.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *dʰeyǵʰ-

  2. Latin

    effigiēs — likeness, effigy

  3. French

    effigie

  4. English, today

    effigy

Built from

  • effingō · Latin — represent, portray

From French effigie, from Latin effigiēs (“likeness, effigy”), from effingō (“represent, portray”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

effigy in the wild

  • Belgian euro coins feature only a single design for all eight coins: the portrait or effigy of the King of the Belgians.

    Belgian euro coins

  • Having abdicated on 3 October 2025, Grand Duke Henri's effigy will be replaced by that of his successor, Guillaume V, starting on 13 July 2026.

    Luxembourgish euro coins

  • Numerous effigy mounds are shaped like animals, including bears and birds.

    Effigy Mounds National Monument

  • Additionally, "effigy" is used for certain traditional forms of sculpture, namely tomb effigies, funeral effigies and coin effigies.

    Effigy

  • The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-feet-long, four-feet-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio, United States.

    Serpent Mound

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.