Whats the difference between proverbs and idioms?
A proverb is a complete maxim or saying thatMerriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary*says is “often in metaphorical form that embodies a common observation.”Conversely, it says this about idioms: “It is the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class; the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language; an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn’t me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for “the Monday a week after next Monday”)”. Traditionally, most people think of idioms as expressions . . . phrases.This site has a list called Lingo: Definition of Common Terms that gives its own descriptions for categories from Aphorisms through Slogans. And I have a page with many idiom-related links on this page.
A proverb is a complete maxim or saying that Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary* says is “often in metaphorical form that embodies a common observation.” Conversely, it says this about idioms: “It is the language peculiar to a people or to a district, community, or class; the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language; an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (as no, it wasn’t me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (as Monday week for “the Monday a week after next Monday”)”. Traditionally, most people think of idioms as expressions . . . phrases. This site has a list called Lingo: Definition of Common Terms that gives its own descriptions for categories from Aphorisms through Slogans. And I have a page with many idiom-related links on this page.
