Dictionary

byword en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /ˈbaɪ.wə(ɹ)d/ (UK)
• /ˈbaɪ.wɚd/ (US)

Etymology

From 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”).

Meanings

1. A proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
2. A characteristic word or expression; a word or phrase associated with a person or group.
3. Someone or something that stands as an example (i.e. metonymically) for something else, by having some of that something's characteristic traits.
   • 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. 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Christmas Banquet”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:
4. An object of notoriety or contempt, scorn or derision.
   • He hath made me also a byword of the people […] 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 17:6:
   • "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." 1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray:
5. A nickname or epithet.

Forms

Relateds

byspel · bispel

Translations (34)

ru погово́рка (a proverb) · mi pepeha (a proverb) · fi sanonta (a proverb) · ko 속담 (a proverb) · nl spotnaam (someone who stands for something else) · enm byword (a proverb) · sv ordstäv (a proverb) · nl spreekwoord (a proverb) · cmn 民諺 /民谚 (a proverb) · et vanasõna (a proverb) · es refrán (a proverb) · da ordsprog (a proverb) · mi mūrau (someone who stands for something else) · ru при́тча во язы́цех (a proverb) · es estribillo (a proverb) · ja ことわざ (a proverb) · es proverbio (a proverb) · ru олицетворение (someone who stands for something else) · de Sprichwort (a proverb) · ru прибау́тка (a proverb) · ja 諺 (a proverb) · pt dito (a proverb) · da talemåde (a proverb) · is málsháttur (a proverb) · is máltæki (a proverb) · it proverbio (a proverb) · pl ucieleśnienie (someone who stands for something else) · fr proverbe (a proverb) · cmn 格言 (a proverb) · pl dewiza (a proverb) · bg погово́рка (a proverb) · et isiksus (someone who stands for something else) · mk шлагворт (a proverb) · sv ordspråk (a proverb)