epicentre

Etymology
, from +.

Sense of “center of an activity (particularly a disaster)” (1908) by generalization from earthquakes, possibly influenced by.

Noun

 * 1)  The point on the land or water surface directly above the focus, or hypocentre, of an earthquake.
 * 2)  The point on the surface of the earth directly above an underground explosion.
 * 3)  The focal point of any activity, especially if dangerous or destructive.
 * 4)  The geographical area in which an ongoing disaster, illness, crisis, or other destructive event is currently most severe.
 * 1)  The focal point of any activity, especially if dangerous or destructive.
 * 2)  The geographical area in which an ongoing disaster, illness, crisis, or other destructive event is currently most severe.
 * 1)  The geographical area in which an ongoing disaster, illness, crisis, or other destructive event is currently most severe.

Usage notes
The loose usage “center”, or specifically “center of a disaster”, is criticized by some as pretentious and incorrect,  since  specifically means “over, on top”, and is not a generic intensifier.

A more semantic objection is that epicenter implies a singular center of a disaster, which is misleading for many disasters, such as diseases, which do not spread simply by radiation. Instead, is preferred by some as less misleading.

Nevertheless, epicenter is widely used for diseases and other disasters, both in media and epidemiology.

Related terms

 * epicentral

Translations

 * Afrikaans: episentrum
 * Arabic:, مَرْكَز اَلزِّلْزَال
 * Armenian:
 * Asturian: epicentru
 * Belarusian: эпіцэ́нтр
 * Breton: epikreizenn
 * Bulgarian: епице́нтър
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:, , 震中心
 * Czech:
 * Danish:
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: surcentro
 * Estonian: epitsenter
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * Galician:
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Hindi:
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic: skjálftamiðja
 * Indonesian: episenter,
 * Irish: eipealár
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:,  ,
 * Korean:
 * Latvian: epicentrs
 * Lithuanian: epicentras
 * Low German: epizentrum
 * Malay: epipusat, pusat gempa
 * Norwegian:
 * Oromo:
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: епицентар
 * Roman:
 * Slovak:
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Thai:
 * Ukrainian: епіце́нтр
 * Vietnamese: chấn tâm


 * Arabic: بُؤْرَة
 * Armenian:
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Greek:
 * Irish: croílár, ceartlár,, airmheán
 * Japanese:
 * Latvian: epicentrs
 * Polish:

Verb

 * 1) Of an earthquake: to have its epicentre (at a specified location).