maxim

See also: Maxim and màxim

English

WOTD – 13 November 2009

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman maxime and Middle French maxime, from Late Latin maxima (“axiom”), noun use of the feminine singular form of Latin maximus (apparently as used in the phrase prōpositiō maxima (“greatest premise”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæk.sɪm/
• IPA^(key): /ˈmæk.sɪm/, /ˈmæk.səm/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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Noun

maxim (plural maxims)

1. (now rare) A self-evident axiom or premise; a pithy expression of a general principle or rule.
2. A precept; a succinct statement or observation of a rule of conduct or moral teaching.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, page 768:

     In every age and country of the world men must have attended to the characters, designs, and actions of one another, and many reputable rules and maxims for the conduct of human life, must have been laid down and approved of by common consent.

Synonyms

• (precept, succinct statement): Synonym: aphorism, cliche, enthymeme, proverb, saying
• See also Thesaurus:saying

Derived terms

• maxim worker

Translations

moral precept

• Arabic: حِكْمَة f (ḥikma)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 格言 (zh) (géyán), 箴言 (zh) (zhēnyán), 金言 (zh) (jīnyán), 座右銘／座右铭 (zh) (zuòyòumíng), 座右铭 (zh) (zuòyòumíng), 警句 (zh) (jǐngjù)

• Czech: maxim (cs) m, poučka f
• Danish: maksime c
• Esperanto: maksimo
• Finnish: maksiimi
• French: maxime (fr) f
• German: Maxime (de) f, Grundsatz (de) m
• Italian: massima (it) f, principio (it) m
• Japanese: 格言 (ja) (かくげん, kakugen)
• Korean: 격언 (ko) (gyeogeon)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: ēlogium n, dictum (la) n
• Macedonian: начело n (načelo), максима f (maksima)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: maksime (no) m, leveregel (no) m

  Nynorsk: maksime (no) m, leveregel (no) m

• Polish: maksyma (pl) f
• Portuguese: máxima (pt) f
• Romanian: maximă (ro) f, maxime f pl
• Russian: ма́ксима (ru) f (máksima), изрече́ние (ru) n (izrečénije), сенте́нция (ru) f (sentɛ́ncija)
• Spanish: máxima (es) f
• Swedish: maxim (sv) c
• Tagalog: pananabi

See also

• adage
• aphorism
• apophthegm

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Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from English maximum, French maximum, German Maximum, Italian massimo, Russian ма́ксимум (máksimum), Spanish máximo. Regarded as a shortened form of maxime.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /makˈsim/, /maɡˈzim/

Adverb

maxim

1. most

   Antonym: minim

Derived terms

• admaxime (“at most, at the most”)
• maxima (“highest”)
• maximo (“maximum”)

 

See also

• plu
• min

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Novial

Adverb

1. most

   Lo es li maxim brav ek li fratros.

   He is the bravest of the brothers.

Antonyms

• minim