See ekphrasis on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_links": [
[
"ἔκφρασις",
"ἔκφρασις#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"ἐκφράζω",
"ἐκφράζω#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"ἐκ",
"ἐκ#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"φράζω",
"φράζω#Ancient_Greek"
]
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "ἔκφρασις",
"4": "",
"5": "description"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek ἔκφρασις (ékphrasis, “description”)",
"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Ancient Greek ἔκφρασις (ékphrasis, “description”), from ἐκφράζω (ekphrázō, “I describe”), from ἐκ (ek, “out, ex-”) + φράζω (phrázō, “I explain, point out”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "ekphrases",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "ecphrasis",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "~",
"2": "ekphrases"
},
"expansion": "ekphrasis (countable and uncountable, plural ekphrases)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Czech translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Danish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with French translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Hebrew translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Russian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Art",
"orig": "en:Art",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Rhetoric",
"orig": "en:Rhetoric",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "ekphrasic"
},
{
"word": "ekphrastic"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
15,
24
]
],
"ref": "2004, Daniel Donoghue, Old English Literature, Blackwell, published 2004, page 75:",
"text": "One [trope] is ekphrasis, the literary description of a work of art, the most famous example of which may be the careful depiction of the shield of Achilles in book 18 of the Iliad.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
75,
84
]
],
"ref": "2026 June 3, Elisa Gabbert, “How Poets Went From Describing Art to Personally Admiring It”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a good contender, the classic example of ekphrasis.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A clear, intense, self-contained argument or verbal description of an object, especially of an artwork."
],
"id": "en-ekphrasis-en-noun-8wQEOKRJ",
"links": [
[
"rhetoric",
"rhetoric"
],
[
"argument",
"argument"
],
[
"description",
"description"
],
[
"artwork",
"artwork"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(rhetoric) A clear, intense, self-contained argument or verbal description of an object, especially of an artwork."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "hypotyposis"
}
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"rhetoric",
"uncountable"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"lang_code": "cs",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ekfráze"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"lang_code": "da",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "ekfrase"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"word": "ekfrasis"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ekphrasis"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Ekphrasis"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"lang_code": "he",
"roman": "ekfrasis",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "אקפראסיס"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ecfrasi"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ekfraza"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ekfrasis",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "экфрасис"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "écfrasis"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "ekfras"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈɛkfɹəsɪs/"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/99/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/99/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
]
}
],
"word": "ekphrasis"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"word": "ekphrasic"
},
{
"word": "ekphrastic"
}
],
"etymology_links": [
[
"ἔκφρασις",
"ἔκφρασις#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"ἐκφράζω",
"ἐκφράζω#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"ἐκ",
"ἐκ#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"φράζω",
"φράζω#Ancient_Greek"
]
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "ἔκφρασις",
"4": "",
"5": "description"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek ἔκφρασις (ékphrasis, “description”)",
"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From Ancient Greek ἔκφρασις (ékphrasis, “description”), from ἐκφράζω (ekphrázō, “I describe”), from ἐκ (ek, “out, ex-”) + φράζω (phrázō, “I explain, point out”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "ekphrases",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "ecphrasis",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "~",
"2": "ekphrases"
},
"expansion": "ekphrasis (countable and uncountable, plural ekphrases)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "hypotyposis"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English nouns with irregular plurals",
"English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek",
"English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
"English terms with quotations",
"English uncountable nouns",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Czech translations",
"Terms with Danish translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hebrew translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"en:Art",
"en:Rhetoric"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
15,
24
]
],
"ref": "2004, Daniel Donoghue, Old English Literature, Blackwell, published 2004, page 75:",
"text": "One [trope] is ekphrasis, the literary description of a work of art, the most famous example of which may be the careful depiction of the shield of Achilles in book 18 of the Iliad.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
75,
84
]
],
"ref": "2026 June 3, Elisa Gabbert, “How Poets Went From Describing Art to Personally Admiring It”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a good contender, the classic example of ekphrasis.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A clear, intense, self-contained argument or verbal description of an object, especially of an artwork."
],
"links": [
[
"rhetoric",
"rhetoric"
],
[
"argument",
"argument"
],
[
"description",
"description"
],
[
"artwork",
"artwork"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(rhetoric) A clear, intense, self-contained argument or verbal description of an object, especially of an artwork."
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"rhetoric",
"uncountable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈɛkfɹəsɪs/"
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/99/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/99/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-ekphrasis.wav.ogg",
"tags": [
"Southern-England"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"lang_code": "cs",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ekfráze"
},
{
"code": "da",
"lang": "Danish",
"lang_code": "da",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "ekfrase"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"lang_code": "fi",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"word": "ekfrasis"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ekphrasis"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Ekphrasis"
},
{
"code": "he",
"lang": "Hebrew",
"lang_code": "he",
"roman": "ekfrasis",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "אקפראסיס"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"lang_code": "it",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ecfrasi"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ekfraza"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"lang_code": "ru",
"roman": "ekfrasis",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "экфрасис"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "écfrasis"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"lang_code": "sv",
"sense": "description of an object or artwork",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "ekfras"
}
],
"word": "ekphrasis"
}
Download raw JSONL data for ekphrasis meaning in All languages combined (4.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.