RRhetoric
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Sound & Diction

Epithet

EP-ih-thet / ˈɛpɪθɛt

A characterizing adjective or phrase attached to a name — wine-dark sea, swift-footed Achilles. Repeated, it fuses with the noun and becomes part of the identity.

"rosy-fingered Dawn" — Homer

Don't confuse it with. A transferred epithet (hypallage) moves the adjective to the wrong noun: 'a sleepless night' — the night wasn't sleepless; you were.

Drill its family — Sound & Diction

In the Reader — 1 excerpt

honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler
— Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart · open the passage →

The rest of the family

Alliteration Assonance Onomatopoeia Tmesis Neologism Archaism Solecism