proverb

See also:pro-verbandProverbs

English

Etymology

FromOld Frenchproverbe,fromLatinproverbium.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɜː(ɹ)b

Noun

proverb(pluralproverbs)

1. A commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom.

   Coordinate terms:epigram,idiom;see alsoThesaurus:saying

   Near-synonyms:aphorism,maxim

2. (obsolete)Astrikingorparadoxicalassertion; an obscuresaying;anEnigma;aparable.
   • 1611,The Holy Bible,[…](King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker,[…],→OCLC,John16:29:

     His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest noproverb.

3. (obsolete)A familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference.
   • 1611,The Holy Bible,[…](King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker,[…],→OCLC,Deuteronomy28:37:

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

4. (obsolete)Adramaexemplifyinga proverb.

Synonyms

• (commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom):adage,apothegm,byword,maxim,paroemia,saw,saying,sententia
• See alsoThesaurus: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),حِكْمَةf(ḥikma),مَقَالm(maqāl),ضَرْب مَثَلm(ḍarb maṯal),ضَرْبُ الْمَثَلm(ḍarbu l-maṯal)(definite)
• Armenian:առած(hy)(aṙac),ասացվածք(hy)(asacʻvackʻ)
• Asturian:proverbium
• Azerbaijani:məsəl,atasözü,atalar sözü
• Bashkir:мәҡәл(məqəl),әйтем(əytem)
• Basque:atsotitz
• Belarusian:пры́казкаf(prýkazka),прысло́ўеn(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:Châm ngôn(zam¹jin⁴),Ngạn ngữ／Ngạn ngữ(jin⁶jyu⁵)

  Mandarin:Châm ngôn(zh)(zhēnyán),Ngạn ngữ／Ngạn ngữ(zh)(yànyǔ)

• Czech:přísloví(cs)n
• Danish:ordsprogn
• Dutch:spreekwoord(nl)n,gezegde(nl)n
• Esperanto:proverbo(eo),sentenco
• Estonian:vanasõna
• Faroese:orðtakn,orðatakn
• Finnish:sananlasku(fi),sanonta(fi)
• French:proverbe(fr)m
• Galician:proverbiom,refrán(gl)m,verbo(gl)m
• Georgian:ანდაზა(andaza)
• German:Sprichwort(de)n,Denkspruchm,Redensart(de)f;Proverbn(obsolete)
• Gothic:𐌲𐌰𐌾𐌿𐌺𐍉f(gajukō)
• Greek:παροιμία(el)f(paroimía)

  Ancient:παροιμίαf(paroimía)

• Greenlandic:ussat
• Gujarati:કહેવતf(kahevat)
• Haitian Creole:provèb
• Hebrew:פִּתְגָּם(he)m(pitgám)
• Hindi:कहावत(hi)f(kahāvat),मसल(hi)f(masal),लोकोक्ति(hi)f(lokokti),ज़र्ब-उल-मसलf(zarb-ul-masal)
• Hungarian:közmondás(hu)
• Icelandic:málsháttur(is)m,orðskviðurm
• Ido:proverbo(io)
• Indonesian:peribahasa(id)
• Ingrian:sananverto
• Irish:seanfhocalm
• Italian:proverbio(it)m
• Ivatan:pananahan
• Japanese:Ngạn(ja)(ことわざ, kotowaza),Cách ngôn(ja)(かくげん, kakugen)
• Kazakh:мақал(maqal)
• Khmer:សុភាសិត(km)(sophiəsət)
• Korean:속담( tục nói )(ko)(sokdam),격언( cách ngôn )(ko)(gyeogeon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish:gotinên pêşiyan(ku),gotina mezinan(ku)

• Kyrgyz:макал(makal)
• Lao:ພາສິດ(phā sit),ສຸພາສິດ(su phā sit)
• Latin:adagiōf,adagiumn,paroemiaf,proverbiumn,sententiaf
• Latvian:sakāmvārds(lv)m,paruna(lv)f
• Lithuanian:patarlėf
• Low German:Snacks

  German Low German:Spriekel(nds)n(Vest Recklinghausen)

• Luxembourgish:Sprachwuertn
• Macedonian:поговоркаf(pogovorka),изрекаf(izreka),пословицаf(poslovica)
• Malay:peribahasa(ms)
• Malayalam:പഴഞ്ചൊല്ല്(ml)(paḻañcollŭ),പഴമൊഴി(ml)(paḻamoḻi)
• Maltese:qawlm
• Maori:rārangi whakataukī
• Marwari:कैवत(kaivat)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic:зүйр цэцэн үг(züjr cecen üg),зүйр үг(züjr üg)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:ordtak(no)n

  Nynorsk:ordtakn

• Old English:biwordn
• Oromo:mammaaksa
• Ossetian:ӕмбисонд(æmbisond)
• Pashto:متلm(matál),مثلm(masál),ضرب المثلm(zarbo l-masal)
• Persian:

  Dari:مَثَل(phát)(masal),مَقَال(phát)(maqāl),ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل(phát)(zarbu l-masal)

  Iranian Persian:مَثَل(phát)(masal),مَقال(phát)(mağâl),ضَرْبُ الْمَثَل(phát)(zarbo l-masal)

• Polish:przysłowie(pl)n
• Portuguese:provérbio(pt)m
• Romanian:proverb(ro)n,proverbe(ro)npl
• Russian:посло́вица(ru)f(poslóvica),погово́рка(ru)f(pogovórka),при́сказка(ru)f(prískazka)
• Scottish Gaelic:seanfhacalm,gnàth-fhacalm
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:по̀словицаf

  Roman:pòslovica(sh)f

• Slovak:príslovien
• Slovene:pregovor(sl)m
• Spanish:proverbio(es)m,refrán(es)m,paremia(es)f,retraherm
• 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),при́казкаf(prýkazka)
• Urdu:مَثَلf(masal),کَہاوَتf(kahāvat),ضَرْبُ الْمَثَلf(zarbu l-masal)
• Uyghur:ھېكمەت(hëkmet),ماقال(maqal)
• Uzbek:maqol(uz),masal(uz),zarbulmasal(uz)
• Vietnamese:tục ngữ(vi)(Tục ngữ)
• Volapük:spiket(vo),(older term)pükedavöd
• Welsh:dihareb(cy)f
• Yiddish:שפּריכוואָרט(yi)n(shprikhvort),וועלטסווערטלn(veltsvertl),פֿאָלקסווערטלn(folksvertl)

Verb

proverb(third-person singular simple presentproverbs,present participleproverbing,simple past and past participleproverbed)

1. To write or utter proverbs.
2. To name in, or as, a proverb.
   • 1671,John Milton,Samson Agonistes,lines203–205:

     Am I not sung andproverbedfor 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”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene iv]:

     I amproverbedwith a grandsire phrase.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition ofWebster’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”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.)

See also

• Category:English proverbs

References

• proverbon Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “proverb”,inOneLook Dictionary Search.

Romanian

Etymology

BorrowedfromLatinproverbium,Frenchproverbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/proˈverb/

Noun

proverbn(pluralproverbe)

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

• proverbinDEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române(Dictionaries of the Romanian language)