Whats the difference between an idiom, proverb and a metaphor?
An idiom is simply a commonly-used saying, i.e. “a drop in the bucket”. No more complicated than that. But….. it’s important to note that many idioms, like the one I just mentioned, are also metaphorical in nature. This means that they are “implied comparisons”, NOT to be taken literally but purely as a means of comparing something to another similar thing. So idioms can be metapahors, and vice versa. They are not as separate as you might have thought. Many metaphors, through common and frequent use in popular culture, have become idioms. Here’s an example of an idiom that is NOT a metaphor, so you can see that as well. “Yes, I had dinner.” (Idiom: simply meaning “I ate my dinner”, rather than the literal “I possessed my lunch”.) “Yes, I wolfed my dinner.” (Metaphor: I ate my dinner like a wolf (comparison to a wolf eating his dinner.) A proverb is a common saying (so, an idiom) WHICH EXPRESSES A TRUTH. It may be metaphorical as well. E.G. “An eye for an eye makes the world blind.” –
