Etymology

proverb

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Today it means: A commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom. Full definition →

First used before 18th c.Old French proverbe ← Latin proverbium
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromproverbium
  2. Old French · derived fromproverbe
  3. English todayproverb

From Old French proverbe, from Latin proverbium.

First known use, by meaning

  • before 18th c. Any commonly used turn of phrase expressing a metaphor, simile, or descriptive epithet.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.