Epitheton, often called an epithet, is a descriptive label or modifier attached to a noun, person, or figure, such as “rosy-fingered dawn” or “the wine-dark sea.” In classical poetry, recurring epithets helped establish character, atmosphere, and oral rhythm, while also fitting metrical patterns. An epitheton may praise, condemn, idealize, or ironically complicate its subject. Poets use it to condense description into a memorable phrase, guide readers toward a particular judgment, and give people, places, and abstractions a heightened, emblematic presence.

An epitheton may be conventional, such as “rosy-fingered dawn,” or freshly invented for a particular poem. Effective epithets do more than decorate: they reveal a speaker's attitude, establish an epic or ironic register, or make a recurring figure memorable. Repeated epithets can function like motifs.