noun
epitaph
EP-ih-taf/ˈepɪtæf/
A brief inscription or statement commemorating a dead person or something that has ended.
The brief epitaph carved into the tombstone reads At rest.
Etymology
The pieces connect words with a tomb or burial. The Greek ancestor meant words spoken at a funeral; the English sense focuses on commemorative words written on or for a tombstone.
In context
how innocent she died hang an epitaph upon her tomb and sing it to her bones
More examples
- He chooses “A life devoted to others” as his epitaph.
- Many epitaphs in this cemetery are too weathered to read.
- The final issue includes a brief epitaph for the magazine.
Forms
epitaph · epitaphs
Similar words
- eulogy
- Usually a spoken tribute rather than a brief memorial inscription.
- obituary
- Announces a death and summarizes the person's life.