proverb

See also: pro-verb and Proverbs

English

Etymology

From Old French proverbe, from Latin proverbium.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒvɜːb/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑvɝb/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)b

Noun

proverb (plural proverbs)

1. A commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom.

   Coordinate terms: epigram, idiom; see also Thesaurus:saying

   Near-synonyms: aphorism, maxim

2. (obsolete) A striking or paradoxical assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 16:29:

     His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.

3. (obsolete) A familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 28:37:

     Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by word, among all nations.

4. (obsolete) A drama exemplifying a proverb.

Synonyms

• (commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom): adage, apothegm, byword, maxim, paroemia, saw, saying, sententia
• See also Thesaurus:saying

Derived terms

Terms derived from "proverb"

• apologetic proverb
• proverbial
• proverbiology
• Proverbs
• proverbs hunt in pairs

Translations

phrase expressing a basic truth

Albanian: thënie (sq) f, proverb (sq) m Arabic: مَثَل (ar) m (maṯal), حِكْمَة f (ḥikma), مَقَال m (maqāl), ضَرْب مَثَل m (ḍarb maṯal), ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل m (ḍarbu l-maṯal) (definite) Armenian: առած (hy) (aṙac), ասացվածք (hy) (asacʻvackʻ) Asturian: proverbiu m Azerbaijani: məsəl, atasözü, atalar sözü Bashkir: мәҡәл (məqəl), әйтем (əytem) Basque: atsotitz Belarusian: пры́казка f (prýkazka), прысло́ўе n (pryslóŭje) Bengali: প্রবাদ (bn) (probad) Breton: krennlavar (br) m Bulgarian: посло́вица (bg) f (poslóvica), погово́рка (bg) f (pogovórka) Burmese: စကားပုံ (my) (ca.ka:pum), ဆိုထုံး (my) (hcuihtum:) Catalan: proverbi (ca) m, dita (ca) f, refrany (ca) m, parèmia (ca) f Chakma: 𑄓𑄊𑄧𑄇𑄧𑄙 (ḍāghakadhā) Chechen: кица (kica) Chichewa: mwambi Chinese: Cantonese: 箴言 (zam1 jin4), 諺語／谚语 (jin6 jyu5) Mandarin: 箴言 (zh) (zhēnyán), 諺語／谚语 (zh) (yànyǔ) Czech: přísloví (cs) n Danish: ordsprog n Dutch: spreekwoord (nl) n, gezegde (nl) n Esperanto: proverbo (eo), sentenco Estonian: vanasõna Faroese: orðtak n, orðatak n Finnish: sananlasku (fi), sanonta (fi) French: proverbe (fr) m Galician: proverbio m, refrán (gl) m, verbo (gl) m Georgian: ანდაზა (andaza) German: Sprichwort (de) n, Denkspruch m, Redensart (de) f; Proverb n (obsolete) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌾𐌿𐌺𐍉 f (gajukō) Greek: παροιμία (el) f (paroimía) Ancient: παροιμία f (paroimía) Greenlandic: ussat Gujarati: કહેવત f (kahevat) Haitian Creole: provèb Hebrew: פִּתְגָּם (he) m (pitgám) Hindi: कहावत (hi) f (kahāvat), मसल (hi) f (masal), लोकोक्ति (hi) f (lokokti), ज़र्ब-उल-मसल f (zarb-ul-masal) Hungarian: közmondás (hu) Icelandic: málsháttur (is) m, orðskviður m Ido: proverbo (io) Indonesian: peribahasa (id) Ingrian: sananverto Irish: seanfhocal m Italian: proverbio (it) m Ivatan: pananahan Japanese: 諺 (ja) (ことわざ, kotowaza), 格言 (ja) (かくげん, kakugen) Kazakh: мақал (maqal) Khmer: សុភាសិត (km) (sophiəsət) Korean: 속담(俗談) (ko) (sokdam), 격언(格言) (ko) (gyeogeon) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: gotinên pêşiyan (ku), gotina mezinan (ku) Kyrgyz: макал (makal) Lao: ພາສິດ (phā sit), ສຸພາສິດ (su phā sit) Latin: adagiō f, adagium n, paroemia f, proverbium n, sententia f Latvian: sakāmvārds (lv) m, paruna (lv) f Lithuanian: patarlė f Low German: Snacks German Low German: Spriekel (nds) n (Vest Recklinghausen) Luxembourgish: Sprachwuert n Macedonian: поговорка f (pogovorka), изрека f (izreka), пословица f (poslovica) Malay: peribahasa (ms) Malayalam: പഴഞ്ചൊല്ല് (ml) (paḻañcollŭ), പഴമൊഴി (ml) (paḻamoḻi) Maltese: qawl m Maori: rārangi whakataukī Marwari: कैवत (kaivat) Mongolian: Cyrillic: зүйр цэцэн үг (züjr cecen üg), зүйр үг (züjr üg) Norwegian: Bokmål: ordtak (no) n Nynorsk: ordtak n Old English: biword n Oromo: mammaaksa Ossetian: ӕмбисонд (æmbisond) Pashto: متل m (matál), مثل m (masál), ضرب المثل m (zarbo l-masal) Persian: Dari: مَثَل (masal), مَقَال (maqāl), ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل (zarbu l-masal) Iranian Persian: مَثَل (masal), مَقال (mağâl), ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل (zarbo l-masal) Polish: przysłowie (pl) n Portuguese: provérbio (pt) m Romanian: proverb (ro) n, proverbe (ro) n pl Russian: посло́вица (ru) f (poslóvica), погово́рка (ru) f (pogovórka), при́сказка (ru) f (prískazka) Scottish Gaelic: seanfhacal m, gnàth-fhacal m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: по̀словица f Roman: pòslovica (sh) f Slovak: príslovie n Slovene: pregovor (sl) m Spanish: proverbio (es) m, refrán (es) m, paremia (es) f, retraher m Swahili: methali (sw) Swedish: ordspråk (sv) n Tagalog: salawikain Tajik: масал (masal), мақол (maqol), зарбулмасал (zarbulmasal) Tamil: பழமொழி (ta) (paḻamoḻi) Tatar: мәкаль (tt) (mäkal’) Telugu: నానుడి (te) (nānuḍi), సామెత (te) (sāmeta), లోకోక్తి (te) (lōkōkti) Thai: ภาษิต (th) (paa-sìt), สุภาษิต (th) (sù-paa-sìt) Tibetan: གཏམ་དཔེ། (gtam dpe) Turkish: atasözü (tr), darbımesel (tr) Turkmen: atalar sözi, nakyl Ukrainian: прислі́в'я (uk) n (pryslívʺja), при́казка f (prýkazka) Urdu: مَثَل f (masal), کَہاوَت f (kahāvat), ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل f (zarbu l-masal) Uyghur: ھېكمەت (hëkmet), ماقال (maqal) Uzbek: maqol (uz), masal (uz), zarbulmasal (uz) Vietnamese: tục ngữ (vi) (俗語) Volapük: spiket (vo), (older term) pükedavöd Welsh: dihareb (cy) f Yiddish: שפּריכוואָרט (yi) n (shprikhvort), וועלטסווערטל n (veltsvertl), פֿאָלקסווערטל n (folksvertl)

Verb

proverb (third-person singular simple present proverbs, present participle proverbing, simple past and past participle proverbed)

1. To write or utter proverbs.
2. To name in, or as, a proverb.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, lines 203–205:

     Am I not sung and proverbed for a fool / In every street, do they not say, "How well / Are come upon him his deserts?"

3. To provide with a proverb.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “proverb”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

See also

• Category:English proverbs

References

• proverb on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “proverb”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin proverbium, French proverbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /proˈverb/

Noun

proverb n (plural proverbe)

1. saying, proverb, maxim

   Synonyms: parimie, zicală, zicătoare

2. (dated) proverb (drama exemplifying a proverb)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	proverb	proverbul		proverbe	proverbele
genitive-dative	proverb	proverbului		proverbe	proverbelor
vocative	proverbule			proverbelor

Further reading

• proverb in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)