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)

A commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom.
Coordinate terms: epigram, idiom; see also Thesaurus:saying

Near-synonyms: aphorism, maxim
(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.
(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.
(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"

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 (fa) (masal), مَقَال (fa) (maqāl), ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل (fa) (zarbu l-masal)

Iranian Persian: مَثَل (fa) (masal), مَقال (fa) (mağâl), ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل (fa) (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)

To write or utter proverbs.
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?"
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.)

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)

saying, proverb, maxim
Synonyms: parimie, zicală, zicătoare
(dated) proverb (drama exemplifying a proverb)

Declension

Declension of proverb

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) proverb	proverbul	(niște) proverbe	proverbele
genitive/dative	(unui) proverb	proverbului	(unor) proverbe	proverbelor
vocative	proverbule		proverbelor

proverb

Contents

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

See also

References

Romanian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Further reading

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proverb

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

See also

References

Romanian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Further reading

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