noun, plural ef·fi·gies.
- a representation or image, especially sculptured, as on a monument.
- a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule.
- in effigy, in public view in the form of an effigy: a leader hanged in effigy by the mob.
noun plural -gies
- a portrait of a person, esp as a monument or architectural decoration
- a crude representation of someone, used as a focus for contempt or ridicule and often hung up or burnt in public (often in the phrases burn or hang in effigy)
1530s, “image of a person,” from Middle French effigie (13c.), from Latin effigies “copy or imitation of something, likeness,” from or related to effingere “mold, fashion, portray,” from ex- “out” (see ex-) + fingere “to form, shape” (see fiction). The Latin word was regarded as plural and the -s was lopped off by 18c. Specifically associated with burning, hanging, etc., at least since 1670s.
see in effigy.