Epiphany

How to spell epiphany

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce epiphany

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does epiphany mean?

1. nounA sudden, striking moment of realisation or understanding.

Epiphany in a sentence

• She had a sudden epiphany about how to fix the budget shortfall.

• The chef described his new recipe as the result of a late-night epiphany.

Where does epiphany come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek epiphaneia, meaning a 'manifestation' or 'appearance', built from the verb epiphainein, 'to show forth' or 'to come to light'. That verb joins epi, meaning 'upon' or 'forth', with phainein, meaning 'to show' or 'to bring into the light', the same root that lies behind words like 'phenomenon' and 'fantasy'. In ancient use it described the sudden, visible appearing of a god or a divine sign. Latin took it up as epiphania, and the word entered English through Old French in the medieval period, first attached to the Christian feast marking the showing of the infant Christ to the Magi. The familiar modern sense of a sudden flash of insight grew out of this idea of something being abruptly revealed, and the tricky single p with the silent-looking ph (pronounced as f) both come straight from that Greek phainein root.

How the word is built

• epi- (forth, upon)
• phan (to show, appear)
• -y (noun suffix)