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An epiphany is a moment when something that was cloudy suddenly becomes clear — not because you finished a textbook, but because the idea arrives. You might be washing dishes and then you finally see why a friend was hurt, or how a maths problem really works. It feels like a light switching on.
An epiphany Epiphany頓悟is a moment when something that was cloudy suddenly becomes clear是原本模糊的東西突然變清楚的那一刻——not because you finished a textbook不是因為你讀完了一本教科書，but because the idea arrives而是因為那個想法自己來了。You might be washing dishes你可能正在洗碗，and then you finally see why a friend was hurt突然就懂了朋友為什麼受傷，or how a maths problem really works或是懂了一道數學題到底怎麼解。It feels like a light switching on感覺就像燈突然被打開。
Though actually, this everyday meaning is the younger one. For hundreds of years, Epiphany (often with a capital E) was a church day in January, when Christians mark Jesus being shown to the world. The Greek pieces mean a kind of “showing” or “shining upon”. Writers later borrowed that sudden-showing feeling for ordinary life.
Though actually不過其實，this everyday meaning is the younger one這個日常意思是比較晚出現的。For hundreds of years好幾百年來，Epiphany (often with a capital E) was a church day in January Epiphany（常大寫）指的是一月的一個教會節日，when Christians mark Jesus being shown to the world基督徒在這天紀念耶穌向世人顯現。The Greek pieces mean a kind of “showing” or “shining upon”這個字的希臘字根意思是一種「顯現」或「照耀」。Writers later borrowed that sudden-showing feeling for ordinary life後來作家把這種突然顯現的感覺借用到日常生活裡。
So you will meet both: the sense (a sudden understanding) and the calendar sense (a holy day). In chat, people more often say “it clicked” or “I suddenly got it”; epiphany sounds a little like a book-word.
So you will meet both所以你會遇到這兩種意思：the bookish sense (a sudden understanding)一種是書面用法（突然的領悟），and the calendar sense (a holy day)一種是節日用法（一個聖日）。In chat, people more often say “it clicked” or “I suddenly got it”聊天時大家更常說「it clicked我突然懂了」或「I suddenly got it我突然明白了」；epiphany sounds a little like a book-word epiphany聽起來比較像書面字。
組成From Greek epipháneia, “a showing, a striking appearance”, from epiphaínō, “I appear”: epi- (upon) + phaínō (I shine, I appear). The church feast has been in English since the 14th century; the “sudden understanding” use since the 17th.
同家族的字
- phenomenonshares the Greek ‘appear / shine’ root
原始詞典資料9 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Epiphanynoun/ɪˈpɪfəni/
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ChristianityA manifestation of the divinity of Jesus Christ, especially to the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12), but also at his baptism and the Wedding at Cana.
- That was also the reason why the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the three epiphanies of Christ's divinity, His Baptism, the Miracle of Cana, and the Visit of the Magi, was one of the most favorite feasts in the Eastern Church[…]
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ChristianityAn annual Christian feast celebrating these events, usually on January 6, the twelfth day after Christmas.
- On the Festival of the Epiphany, and on the six Sundays called after its name, we have distinct pictures held up to our view connected with the life of Jesus of Nazareth[…]
- That was also the reason why the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the three epiphanies of Christ's divinity, His Baptism, the Miracle of Cana, and the Visit of the Magi, was one of the most favorite feasts in the Eastern Church[…]
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ChristianityThe day of the celebration, January 6, or sometimes (in Western Christianity), the Sunday between January 2 and 8.
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ChristianityThe season or time of the Christian church year, either from the Epiphany feast day to Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent), or from the Epiphany feast day to the feast of Candlemas (marking the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple in Jerusalem).
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Christianityhuman-sciencespsychologyan experience of sudden and striking insight
Epiphanyname/ɪˈpɪfəni/
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ChristianityA female given name.
epiphanynoun/ɪˈpɪfəni/
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An illuminating realization or discovery, often resulting in a personal feeling of elation, awe, or wonder.
- It came to her in an epiphany what her life's work was to be.
- Instead of examining institutions and classes, structures of economic production and social control, one had to think about “moments”—moments of love, hate, poetry, frustration, action, surrender, delight, humiliation, justice, cruelty, resignation, surprise, disgust, resentment, self-loathing, pity, fury, peace of mind—those tiny epiphanies, Lefebvre said, in which the absolute possibilities and temporal limits of anyone's existence were revealed.
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A manifestation or appearance of a divine or superhuman being.
- The ithyphallic bird-man is the climactic, ecstatic, instantaneous male principle confronting the enormous, slow, bovine, and enduring principle of the eternal feminine in her epiphany as the bison.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。