frontispiece

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an illustration facing or immediately preceding the title page of a book

   The first edition has an engraved portrait as its frontispiece.

2. 2
   noun

   an ornamental front or facade, especially on a building

   A carved stone frontispiece framed the old library's main entrance.

From French frontispice and Italian frontespizio, ultimately Medieval Latin frontispicium, built from Latin frons ("forehead, front") and specere ("to look at"). English spelling was later reshaped under the influence of front and piece.

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