byword
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English byword, byworde (“proverb”), from Old English bīword, bīwyrd, bīwyrde (“proverb, household word", also "adverb”), from Proto-West Germanic *bīwurdī, equivalent to by- + word. Compare Latin proverbium, which byword may possibly be a translation of. Cognate with Old High German pīwurti (“proverb”). Compare also Old English bīspel (“proverb, example”), bīcwide (“byword, proverb, tale, fable”), Dutch bijwoord (“adverb”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editbyword (plural bywords)
- A proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
- A characteristic word or expression; a word or phrase associated with a person or group.
- Someone or something that stands as an example (i.e. metonymically) for something else, by having some of that something's characteristic traits.
- 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Christmas Banquet”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:
- Illustrious unfortunates attract a wider sympathy, not because their griefs are more intense, but because, being set on lofty pedestals, they the better serve mankind as instances and bywords of calamity.
- An object of notoriety or contempt, scorn or derision.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 17:6:
- He hath made me also a byword of the people […]
- 1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray:
- "I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister's name a by-word."
- A nickname or epithet.
Translations
edita proverb
|
someone who stands for something else
See also
editFurther reading
edit- “byword”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Middle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old English bīword, modified from earlier bīwyrde, from Proto-West Germanic *bīwurdī; equivalent to by- + word.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editbyword
Descendants
edit- English: byword
References
edit- “bī-wǒrd, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 27 February 2020.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms prefixed with by-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms prefixed with by-
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- enm:Talking