diptych

American  

[dip-tik] / ˈdɪp tɪk /

noun

1. a hinged two-leaved tablet used in ancient times for writing on with a stylus.

2. Usually diptychs.

   1. a similar tablet of wood or metal containing on one leaf the names of those among the living, and on the other those among the dead, for whom prayers and Masses are said.

   2. the lists of such persons.

   3. the intercession in the course of which these names were introduced.

3. a pair of pictures or carvings on two panels, usually hinged together.

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diptych British  

/ ˈdɪptɪk /

noun

1. a pair of hinged wooden tablets with waxed surfaces for writing

2. a painting or carving on two panels, usually hinged like a book

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Etymology

Origin of diptych

1615–25; < Late Latin diptycha writing tablet with two leaves < Greek díptycha, neuter plural of díptychos folded together, equivalent to di- di- ¹ + -ptychos, verbid of ptýssein to fold

Example Sentences

The play, a diptych, has a second act in which the same actors play the roles of the parents of their first-act characters.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2025

In a room at the French consul general’s, a diptych of palms as long-legged as Paris runway models.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2025

Violette Bule’s “Dream America,” a photographic diptych of a dishwasher carrying a tray of red, white and blue plates and the stars and stripes, evokes August Sander’s famous portrait of a bulging, burdened bricklayer.

From New York Times • Mar. 8, 2023

But on one wall, opposite the entrance, is a diptych that makes the bodily reality and pitched stakes of abortion viscerally clear.

From New York Times • Nov. 2, 2022

A portrait of Martin van Nieuwenhoven, the donator of the diptych, La Vierge aux Pommes, is as superb a Memling as one could wish for.

From Promenades of an Impressionist by Huneker, James