sepia

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

sepia

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin sēpia, from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía, “cuttlefish”), from σήψ (sḗps, “a kind of lizard, also a kind of serpent whose bite was alleged to cause putrefaction”). Compare Italian seppia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːpiə/, (sometimes) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛpiə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːpiə

Noun

sepia (countable and uncountable, plural sepias)

1. A dark brown pigment made from the secretions of the cuttlefish.
2. A dark, slightly reddish, brown colour.

   sepia:  

3. (by extension, countable) A sepia-coloured drawing or photograph.
4. (archaic, countable) The cuttlefish.

Translations

Adjective

sepia (comparative more sepia, superlative most sepia)

1. Of a dark reddish-brown colour.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

   • 1985, Lance Parkin, The Infinity Doctors, page 209:

     Only now did he realise how few colours there had been at the end of the universe. The world had been sepia, drained of colour and light.

   • 2021 July 14, “Modern Images”, in RAIL, number 935, page 37, photo caption:

     Dawn mist rolling off the adjacent North Downs creates a sepia effect over the river with no need for digital enhancement.

Related terms

• sepian
• sepiolite

Translations

See also

• black and white
• color
• cuttlefish
• ink sac
• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• Aspie, aspie, paise

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

sepia

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sepia, via French or Italian from Latin sepia.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

sepia f or m (uncountable)

1. cuttlefish

Synonyms

• (cuttlefish): zeekat

Noun

sepia n (uncountable)

1. the color sepia
2. a style of yellowish/brownish-and-black photography

Further reading

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “sepia”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía), often suggested to be from Ancient Greek σήπειν (sḗpein, “to make rotten”), but (per Beekes) could instead be a Pre-Greek word.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈseː.pi.a/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈse.pi.a/,

Noun

sēpia f (genitive sēpiae); first declension

1. a cuttlefish
2. the secretion of a cuttlefish used as ink

Declension

First-declension noun.

Synonyms

• (cuttlefish): lōlīgō

Descendants

References

• “sepia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sepia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sepia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• sepia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “sepia”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
• “sepia”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “sēpia”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 11: S–Si, page 478
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “sēpia”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 589

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

sepia

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sēpia, from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.pja/
• Rhymes: -ɛpja
• Syllabification: se‧pia

Noun

sepia f

1. cephalopod ink
2. sepia (color)
3. (photography) sepia toning
4. cuttlefish

   Synonym: mątwa

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• sepia in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēpia. Doublet of jibia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsepja/
• Rhymes: -epja
• Syllabification: se‧pia

Noun

sepia f (plural sepias)

1. cuttlefish

   Synonyms: jibia, cachón, choco

2. (photography) sepia

Derived terms

Further reading

• “sepia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014