Word.ws English Dictionary

apophthegm

/ˈæ.pə.θɛm/

apophthegm is the alternative spelling of apothegm.

Meaning of apothegm

Noun

apothegm (plural apothegms)

  1. A short, witty, instructive saying; an aphorism or maxim.
    • Every glaſs of wine, or bit almoſt, that I committed to my mouth, ſhe uſhered thither with ſome Apothegm or other: the whole ſeries, indeed, of her diſcourſe, was compoſed of nothing but reaſon or wit, which made me admire her; which ſhe eaſily underſtood, I perceived by her ſmiles, when ſhe...1665, Richard Head, The English Rogue: Deſcribed, in the Life of Merington Latroon, A Witty Extravagant, Being a Compleat Hiſtory of the Moſt Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes, Henry Marsh, page 355
    Synonyms:
    byword, saying, adage, saw, proverb, maxim, apophthegm, dictum, gnome, gnomic saying

Forms of apophthegm

pluralapophthegms
alternative formapothegm

Origin of apophthegm

First attested 1553, from Ancient Greek ἀπόφθεγμα (apóphthegma), from ἀποφθέγγομαι (apophthéngomai, “I plainly speak my mind”), from ἀπό (apó, “from”) + φθέγγομαι (phthéngomai, “I speak loudly”).

Questions about apophthegm

What is apophthegm the alternative spelling of?
Apophthegm is the alternative spelling of apothegm.
How do you pronounce apophthegm?
Apophthegm is pronounced /ˈæ.pə.θɛm/.

Words near apophthegm in the dictionary

  1. apophlegmatisms
  2. apophonic
  3. apophonically
  4. apophonies
  5. apophony
  6. apophthegm
  7. apophthegmatic
  8. apophthegmatical
  9. apophthegmatically
  10. apophthegmatise
  11. apophthegmatised

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: apophthegm (page history and authors); apothegm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “apophthegm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apophthegm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.