Word.ws English Dictionary

theophany

/θiːˈɒfəni/

theophany noun: a manifestation of a deity to a person.

Noun

theophany (plural theophanies)

  1. A manifestation of a deity to a person.
    • It was a bewildering theophany, since it was impossible to make out anything clearly in the stormy obscurity of thunder, lightning, smoke and wind.2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 47

Proper noun capitalized: Theophany

the Theophany

  1. Any of various specific theophanies.
    1. One of the Great Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church, commemorating the revelation of Jesus' divinity, especially in his baptism by John the Baptist.
      • The Byzantine tradition concentrates all the birth narratives, including the Magi, at Christmas. Theophany is very much the feast of the Baptism of Christ, being marked by the very important ceremony of the great Blessing of Water[…]2010 May 10, Ken Parry, The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 333
      • Originally, the feast of Theophany included Christ's birth, the adoration of the Magi, and Christ's childhood narratives, such as his circumcision and his presentation in the temple. It also included his baptism and the wedding at Cana[…]2019 December 6, Mary Kathryn Lowell, Treasure in a Box: A Guide to the Icons of St. Andrew, Archway Publishing, →ISBN

theophany meaning in Malayalam, Arabic and Indonesian

theophany in Malayalam

Theophany, feast commemorating the revelation of Jesus' divinity at His baptism
ദനഹാ danahā

theophany in Arabic

a visible manifestation of a deity
ظُهُورٌ إِلَهِيّ ẓuhūrun ʔilahiyy

theophany in Indonesian

a visible manifestation of a deity
teofani

Forms of theophany

pluraltheophanies

Origin of theophany

From Late Latin theophania, corresponding to theo- + -phany, from θεός (theós, “God”) + φαίνω (phaínō, “to shine, appear”).

Words formed from theophany

Questions about theophany

What does theophany mean?
Theophany means a manifestation of a deity to a person.
What is theophany in Malayalam?
Theophany in Malayalam is ദനഹാ (danahā). See Theophany meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is theophany?
Theophany can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce theophany?
Theophany is pronounced /θiːˈɒfəni/ (UK).
What is the plural of theophany?
The plural of theophany is theophanies.

Words near theophany in the dictionary

  1. theophania
  2. theophanic
  3. theophanically
  4. theophanies
  5. theophanism
  6. theophany
  7. Theophila
  8. theophilanthrope
  9. theophilanthropes
  10. theophilanthropic
  11. theophilanthropical

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: theophany (page history and authors); Theophany (page history and authors); ദനഹാ (Malayalam) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-theophany.wav.

Cite this entry: “theophany.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/theophany. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.