Other forms: epitomes
The epitome is the perfect example of a quality — elegance itself in one person. The epitome of style, the epitome of calm, she is the epitome of it.
It claims the thing is the standard by which others are judged, not merely a good instance. It is pronounced ih-PIT-uh-mee, four syllables, which surprises people who have only read it. The older sense is a summary or abridgement, which is what the Greek means: a cutting short.
1nounepitomeThe perfect example of a quality.
“With her perfect manners and pearls, she was the epitome of elegance.”
2nounsummaryA summary or abridgement.
“The monk wrote a short epitome of the long history for his students.”
epitome is a perfect example.
Also accepted in games: embodiment
Greek epitome means an abridgement — epi plus temnein, to cut. Anatomy and atom come from the same cutting.
Proto-Indo-European
*temh₁-
Ancient Greek
ἐπιτομή — an abridgment, also a surface-incision
Latin
epitomē
English, today
epitome
Built from
From Middle French -, from Latin epitomē, from Ancient Greek ἐπιτομή (“an abridgment, also a surface-incision”), from ἐπιτέμνω (“to cut upon the surface, cut short, abridge”), from ἐπι- + τέμνω.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Big Ideas