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.

---

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

---

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 the adjacent living area, between a pair of bookcases, is a 6½-by-13-foot 2016 white-and-yellow diptych of an Italian locomotive by Matt Mullican, another of Freeman’s artists.

From New York Times • Mar. 11, 2024

“Here We Are,” which is constructed as a musical diptych, stitches together two unrelated yet thematically resonant Buñuel films, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2023

Annie Leist, a museum staffer and an artist and photographer herself, took a group to a brightly colored abstract diptych called “Wind and Water,” painted in 1975 by Suzanne Jackson.

From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2023

An angel was let down from the roof, and offered the king and queen a little diptych in gold, with stones and enamel representing the Crucifixion; he made also a speech.

From A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance by Jusserand, Jean Jules