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A proverb is a short, well-known sentence that offers advice or says something people treat as generally true. “A penny saved is a penny earned” is one. “Look before you leap” is another. Families pass them on; teachers quote them; they feel like common sense wearing old clothes.
A proverb諺語 is a short, well-known sentence是一句簡短、大家都知道的話 that offers advice用來給建議 or says something people treat as generally true或說出大家當成普遍真理的事。「A penny saved is a penny earned」「省下一分錢就是賺到一分錢」 is one就是一句。「Look before you leap」「三思而後行」 is another也是一句。 Families家人 pass them on會把它們傳下去; teachers老師 quote them會引用它們; they feel like common sense它們讓人感覺像是常識 wearing old clothes只是穿著古老的外衣。
A proverb is usually a whole sentence, not a two-word idiom. Though actually, English speakers are messy here: they also say saying, or “as the old proverb goes,” about lines that began as quotes, not folk talk.
A proverb一句諺語 is usually a whole sentence通常是完整的一句話, not a two-word idiom而不是兩個字的成語。 Though actually不過事實上, English speakers英語使用者 are messy here在這件事上其實有點亂: they also say saying他們也會說 saying, or "as the old proverb goes,"或說「as the old proverb goes（俗話說）」 about lines that began as quotes來指那些原本是名言的句子, not folk talk而不是民間流傳的話。
Some proverbs pull in opposite directions (look before you leap, but also he who hesitates is lost), which tells you they are tools for a moment, not laws. The adjective proverbial means “famous from a proverb,” and people stretch that too: “his proverbial lateness” just means the lateness everyone already jokes about.
Some proverbs有些諺語 pull in opposite directions講的方向正好相反 (look before you leap, but also he who hesitates is lost)（三思而後行，但也有「猶豫不決就會錯失良機」）, which tells you這告訴你 they are tools for a moment它們是應景的工具, not laws而不是規則。 The adjective proverbial形容詞 proverbial means "famous from a proverb,"意思是「因某句諺語而出名」, and people stretch that too而大家也把它用得更廣: "his proverbial lateness"「他那出了名的遲到」 just means the lateness everyone already jokes about就是指大家早就拿來開玩笑的那個遲到習慣。
原始詞典資料8 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
proverbnoun/ˈpɹɒvɜːb/
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A commonly used sentence expressing popular wisdom.
- Near-synonyms: aphorism, maxim, adage, saw, saying, apothegm, byword, paroemia, sententia (Latin)
- As a Yiddish proverb has it: Badarf men hunik ven tsuker iz zis? Who needs honey when sugar is sweet?
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obsoleteAny commonly used turn of phrase expressing a metaphor, simile, or descriptive epithet.
- The definition of a proverb is no simple matter and has occupied scholars from Ancient Greece until the present day. Lord John Russell defined the proverb as ‘the wisdom of many and the wit of one’. The celebrated Spanish writer Cervantes said that a proverb is ‘a short sentence drawn from long experience’. Generally it is accepted that a proverb is a short, pithy traditional saying, which contains some widely accepted knowledge, or which offers advice or presents a moral. This present volume also contains many phrases and sayings which are not strictly proverbs as we use the term today, although we may still think of them as such. This situation arises because, prior to the eighteenth century it was common for the term to include metaphors, similes, and descriptive epithets. […] The essence of a proverb lies in it being a ‘traditional saying’ i.e. something which has commonly passed from one generation to another by word of mouth. […] In his book On the Lessons in Proverbs (1852), Richard Chevenix Trenchard says that there is one quality of the proverb which is the most essential of all: "… popularity, acceptance and adoption on the part of the people. Without this popularity, without these suffrages and this consent of the many, no saying, however seasoned with salt, however worthy on all these accounts to have become a proverb, however fulfilling all other its conditions, can yet be esteemed as such."
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obsoleteA striking or paradoxical assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable.
- His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
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obsoleteA familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference.
- Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by word, among all nations.
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obsoleteA drama exemplifying a proverb.
proverbverb/ˈpɹɒvɜːb/
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To write or utter proverbs.
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To name in, or as, a proverb.
- Am I not sung and proverbed for a fool / In every street, do they not say, "How well / Are come upon him his deserts?"
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To provide with a proverb.
- I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。