Word.ws English Dictionary

perverb

perverb noun: a statement humorously constructed by merging together two proverbs.

Noun

perverb (plural perverbs)

  1. A statement humorously constructed by merging together two proverbs.
    • A perverb splices the first half of one proverb, or saying, with the second half of another.2012, John R. Taylor, The Mental Corpus: How Language is Represented in the Mind, page 272
    • These perverbs are consistent with the cognitive view's emphasis on the theoretical import of idiosyncratic proverbs. When a perverb is used in public, and some are, the theoretical issues raised are as pressing as they are for any production P-task.2013, Richard P. Honeck, A Proverb in Mind: The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom, page 186

Forms of perverb

pluralperverbs

Origin of perverb

Blend of perverse + proverb.

Questions about perverb

What does perverb mean?
Perverb means a statement humorously constructed by merging together two proverbs.
What part of speech is perverb?
Perverb is a noun.
What is the plural of perverb?
The plural of perverb is perverbs.

Words near perverb in the dictionary

  1. perveance
  2. perveances
  3. perved
  4. pervention
  5. perventions
  6. perverb
  7. perverbs
  8. perverse
  9. perversed
  10. perversedly
  11. perversely

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: perverb (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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