Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

proverb

UK/ˈpɹɒvɜːb/US/ˈpɹɑˌvɝb/
nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,100 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: proverbs

A proverb is an old short saying carrying folk wisdom. An old proverb, as the proverb says, a Chinese proverb.

Proverbs are compressed, memorable and often contradictory — look before you leap and he who hesitates is lost cannot both be right, which is rather the point: a proverb offers a frame rather than a rule. Nearly every language has thousands. Note proverbial, meaning well known; and the Book of Proverbs, which is a collection of them in the Hebrew Bible.

Definitions of proverb

  1. 1nounproverbAn old short saying carrying folk wisdom.B1+

    “My grandmother always had a proverb ready, like 'Look before you leap'.”

proverb is a traditional saying.

Where it comes from

Latin proverbium is pro plus verbum, a word — something put forward in words. Verb, verbal and verbose come from the same word.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *per-

  2. Latin

    proverbium

  3. Old French

    proverbe

  4. English, today

    proverb

From Old French proverbe, from Latin proverbium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in News & Communication

Practise this word

proverb in the wild

  • The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context.

    Proverb

  • Some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures with which they are in contact.

    Proverb

  • To be considered a proverb, a word or phrase must express a common truth or wisdom; it cannot be a mere noun.

    Japanese proverbs

  • Go proverbs are traditional proverbs relating to the game of Go, generally used to help one find good moves in various situations during a game.

    Go proverb

  • Several books relating to Go proverbs have been written, for example Go Proverbs illustrated by Kensaku Segoe was published in 1960.

    Go proverb

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • proverbial