byword

English

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”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈbaɪ.wə(ɹ)d/
    • Audio (UK)(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈbaɪ.wɚd/

Noun

byword (plural bywords)

  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.
    • 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Christmas Banquet”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:
      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.
  4. An object of notoriety or contempt, scorn or derision.
  5. A nickname or epithet.

Translations

See also

Further reading
  • “byword”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English bīword, modified from earlier bīwyrde, from Proto-West Germanic *bīwurdī; equivalent to by- +‎ word.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈbiːˌwurd/, /ˈbiːˌwoːrd/

Noun

byword

  1. byword

Descendants
  • English: byword

References
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