byword
A proverb or proverbial expression, common sayingA proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
» Timbuktu's name has become a byword of remoteness.
Meaning
5 sensesA proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
Sprichwort
погово́ркаpogovórka, при́тча во язы́цехprítča vo jazýcex, прибау́ткаpribaútka
A characteristic word or expression; a word or phrase associated with a person or group.
Someone or something that stands as an example (i.e. metonymically) for something else, by having some of that something's characteristic traits.
олицетворениеolicetvorenije
An object of notoriety or contempt, scorn or derision.
A nickname or epithet.
- a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people
Examples
2 sentencesTimbuktu's name has become a byword of remoteness.
The name Cleopatra has become a byword for a beautiful woman.
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 2
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English byword, byworde (“proverb”), from Old English bīword, bīwyrd, bīwyrdeFrom 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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source