byword
/ˈbaɪ.wɚd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.14 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
noun
A characteristic word or expression; a word or phrase associated with a person or group.
noun
Someone or something that stands as an example (i.e. metonymically) for something else, by having some of that something's characteristic traits.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "He hath made me also a byword of the people […]"
- ""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.""
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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbaɪ.wɚd/
- British English: /ˈbaɪ.wə(ɹ)d/