From G1909 (epi, upon) and G5457 (phos, light). To begin to grow light β the first breaking of dawn. Used of the dawning of the Sabbath (Luke 23:54) and the dawning of resurrection morning (Matthew 28:1). The word captures the exact moment when darkness begins yielding to light.
Matthew 28:1 records that the women came to the tomb 'as it began to dawn (epiphosko) toward the first day of the week.' This is not incidental β the vocabulary of dawning light at the resurrection is theologically loaded. The resurrection IS the ultimate dawn β the moment when the long night of death, sin, and separation began to break. Every physical sunrise since Easter is an echo of that first Easter dawn. Paul captures the same idea: 'The night is far spent, the day is at hand' (Romans 13:12). In Christ, humanity enters perpetual dawn.