effigy

noun

ef·​fi·​gy ˈe-fə-jē 

plural effigies

: an image or representation especially of a person

especially : a crude figure representing a hated person

Phrases

in effigy

: publicly in the form of an effigy

the football coach was burned in effigy

Did you know?

An earlier sense of effigy is "a likeness of a person shaped out of stone or other materials," so it's not surprising to learn that effigy derives, by way of Middle French, from the Latin effigies, which, in turn, comes from the verb effingere ("to form"), a combination of the prefix ­ex- and fingere, which means "to shape." Fingere is the common ancestor of a number of other English nouns that name things you can shape. A fiction is a story you shape with your imagination. Figments are shaped by the imagination, too; they're something you imagine or make up. A figure can be a numeral, a shape, or a picture that you shape as you draw or write.

Examples of effigy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At West Point, Beat Navy week is marked by the burning of a bonfire with a 20-foot effigy of a Navy ship before the Army marathon team begins the 300-mile run from campus to Northwest Stadium to deliver the game ball. —Kyle Feldscher, CNN, 13 Dec. 2024

Dido, after her lover Aeneas deserts her, kills herself with his sword on a funeral pyre, but not before building an effigy of him to burn alongside her. —Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024

Across California, townspeople burned and hanged President Arthur's effigy. —Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 26 Nov. 2024

Later researchers determined that the effigy mound systems closely resemble the clan systems and spirt animals still used by many local Indigenous tribes today, such as the Thunderbird and Water Panther. —Frank Vaisvilas, Journal Sentinel, 20 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French effigie, borrowed from Latin effigiēs "representation, copy, specter," from effig-, variant stem of effingere "to shape, portray, copy" (from ef-, variant before f of ex- ex- entry 1 + fingere "to mold, fashion, make a likeness of") + -iēs, deverbal noun suffix — more at feign

First Known Use

1539, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing effigy

• hang/burn in effigy

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Kids Definition

effigy

noun

ef·​fi·​gy ˈef-ə-jē 

plural effigies

: a likeness especially of a person

especially : a crude figure meant to represent a hated person

hanged their cruel ruler in effigy