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 phrase expressing a basic truth which may be applied to common situations.
2. 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. 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. A drama exemplifying a proverb.

Synonyms

• (phrase expressing a basic truth): adage, apothegm, byword, maxim, paroemia, saw, saying, sententia
• See also Thesaurus:saying

Derived terms

Terms derived from "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)
• Armenian: առած (hy) (aṙac), ասացվածք (hy) (asacʿvackʿ)
• Asturian: proverbiu m
• Azerbaijani: məsəl, atasözü, atalar sözü
• Bashkir: мәҡәл (mäqäl), әйтем (äytem)
• Basque: atsotitz
• Belarusian: пры́казка f (prýkazka), прысло́ўе n (pryslóŭje)
• Bengali: প্রবাদ (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)
• 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 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)
• Hungarian: közmondás (hu)
• Icelandic: málsháttur (is) m, orðskviður m
• Ido: proverbo (io)
• Indonesian: peribahasa (id)
• 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 (kk) (maqal)
• Khmer: សុភាសិត (km) (sophiəsət)
• Korean: 속담(俗談) (ko) (sokdam), 격언(格言) (ko) (gyeogeon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gotinên pêşiyan (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
• 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)
• Persian: مثل‎ (fa) (masal), مقال‎ (fa) (maqâl)
• Polish: przysłowie (pl) n
• Portuguese: provérbio (pt) m
• Rajasthani: कैवत (kaivat)
• 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
• 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
• Swahili: methali (sw)
• Swedish: ordspråk (sv) n
• Tagalog: salawikain
• Tajik: масал (masal), мақол (maqol)
• Tamil: பழமொழி (ta) (paḻamoḻi)
• Tatar: мәкаль (tt) (mäkal’)
• Telugu: నానుడి (te) (nānuḍi)
• Thai: ภาษิต (th) (paa-sìt), สุภาษิต (th) (sù-paa-sìt)
• Tibetan: གཏམ་དཔེ། (gtam dpe)
• Turkish: atasözü (tr)
• Turkmen: atalar sözi, nakyl
• Ukrainian: прислі́в'я (uk) n (pryslívʺja), при́казка f (prýkazka)
• Urdu: کہاوت‎ f (kahāvat), ضرب المثل‎ (zarab almisāl)
• Uyghur: ھېكمەت‎ (hëkmet), ماقال‎ (maqal)
• Uzbek: maqol (uz), masal (uz)
• Vietnamese: tục ngữ (vi)
• 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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

See also

• Category:English proverbs

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin proverbium, French proverbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /proˈverb/

Noun

proverb n (plural proverbe)

1. saying, proverb, maxim
2. (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

Synonyms

• (saying): parimie, zicală, zicătoare

Further reading

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