aphorism

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle French aphorisme, from Late Latin aphorismus, from Ancient Greek ἀφορισμός (aphorismos, “pithy phrase containing a general truth”), from ἀφορίζω (aphorizō, “I define, mark off or determine”), from ἀπό (“off”) + ὁρίζω (“I divide, bound”), from ὅρος (horos, “boundary”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæ.fə.ɹɪzm̩/

Noun

aphorism (plural aphorisms)

1. An original laconic phrase conveying some principle or concept of thought.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:saying

Related terms

• aphorist
• aphoristic

Translations

short phrase conveying some principle or concept of thought

Bosnian: aforizam (bs) m. Bulgarian: афоризъм (bg) m. Catalan: aforisme (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 格言 (zh) (géyán) Croatian: aforìzam (hr) m. Czech: aforismus (cs) m., aforizmus (cs) m. Danish: aforisme (da) c. Finnish: aforismi (fi), mietelause (fi) French: aphorisme (fr) German: Aphorismus (de) Greek: απόφθεγμα (el) Hebrew: פתגם (he) Hungarian: aforizma (hu)

Icelandic: kjarnyrði (is) n., spakmæli (is) n. pl., orðskviður (is) f. pl. Italian: aforisma (it) Japanese: 格言 (ja) (かくげん, kakugen) Norwegian: aforisme (no) m. Portuguese: aforismo (pt) Romanian: aforism (ro), aforisme (ro) n. pl. Russian: афоризм (ru) (aforízm) m. Serbian: Cyrillic: афоризам m. Latin: aforizam m. Slovene: aforizem m. Spanish: aforismo (es) Swedish: aforism (sv) c. Ukrainian: афоризм (uk) m.

See also

• adage
• apophthegm
• maxim

External links

• aphorism in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• aphorism in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• aphorism at OneLook Dictionary Search