Epithet

 WORD OF THE DAY

epithet / noun / EP-uh-thet

Definition
1a: a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing
1b: a disparaging or abusive word or phrase
1c: the part of a taxonomic name identifying a subordinate unit within a genus
2 (obsolete): expression

Examples
"Seeing the [Combat Veterans motorcycle club] holding American Flags … brings back a lot of patriotic emotions. WWII vets are part of what has been referred to as 'The Greatest Generation.' I wonder what the epithet will be for our current generation."
— Stephen Rowland, The Daily Herald (Columbia, Tennessee), 23 Mar. 2022

The first challenge with Chloë Sevigny is figuring out how to describe her, as no single epithet feels quite right.
— Liam Hess, Vogue, 19 Apr. 2022

Did You Know?
Nowadays, epithet is usually used negatively, with the meaning "a derogatory word or phrase," but it wasn't always that way.
Epithet comes to us via Latin from the Greek noun epitheton and ultimately derives from epitithenai, meaning "to put on" or "to add."
In its oldest sense, an epithet is simply a descriptive word or phrase, especially one joined by fixed association to the name of someone or something (as in "Peter the Great" or the stock Homeric phrases "gray-eyed Athena" and "wine-dark sea").
Alternatively, epithets may be used in place of a name (as in "the Peacemaker" or "the Eternal").
These neutral meanings of epithet are still in use, but today the word is more often used in its negative "term of disparagement" sense.