Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Mar 10, 2015
This week’s theme
Poetic forms

This week’s words
clerihew
epigram
cento
limerick
doggerel

Selected Epigrams

Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

epigram

PRONUNCIATION:
(EP-i-gram)

MEANING:
noun: A short witty saying, often in verse.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin epigramma, from Greek epigramma, from epigraphein (to write, inscribe), from epi- (upon, after) + graphein (to write). Other words originating from the same root are graphite, paragraph, program, and topography. Earliest documented use: 1552.

NOTES:
According to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole;
Its body brevity, and wit its soul.

Here is one from Benjamin Franklin that truly demonstrates the power of a pithy epigram:
Little strokes
Fell great oaks.

USAGE:
“I had never read Martial until I picked up his Selected Epigrams in a new edition with delightfully snarky translations by Susan McLean ... it’s hard to demonstrate the quality of Martial’s wit, since most of his best epigrams are unprintable here.”
Bruce Handy; Humor; The New York Times Book Review; Dec 7, 2014.

A few selected epigrams from the delectable Selected Epigrams:
“Write shorter epigrams” is your advice.
Yet you write nothing, Velox. How concise!

Both judge and lawyer grab what they can get,
so, Sextus, my advice is -- pay your debt.

See more usage examples of epigram in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Anyone who wishes to become a good writer should endeavour, before he allows himself to be tempted by the more showy qualities, to be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid. -H.W. Fowler, lexicographer (10 Mar 1858-1933)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith