Why this word is great
EKPHRASIS — [Noun] A vivid, detailed verbal description of a visual work of art or scene. From Ancient Greek ἔκφρασις (ékphrasis, "description"), from ἐκφράζω (ekphrázō, "I describe"), combining ἐκ (ek, "out") + φράζω (phrázō, "I explain, point out"). Unlike "description" (a neutral inventory of features) or "ekphrastic poetry" (a specific genre responding to art), ekphrasis is an act of transubstantiation: the written word striving to become pigment, marble, or light. It is Homer conjuring Achilles’ shield from hammered bronze, a museum placard resurrecting the lost gold of a Byzantine icon, or a critic tracing the precise arc of a dancer’s wrist in a Degas pastel—each an imperfect but necessary bridge between the eye and the tongue, between what is seen and what can never fully be said.