Aphorism
/ˈæf.ə.rɪ.zəm/noun
A brief, pointed statement of a general truth or principle.
Did you know?The word comes from Greek medical writing, where an aphorism was a concise rule or definition—most famously in Hippocrates’ *Aphorisms*—so it began as a tool for compressing knowledge, almost like verbal spellwork.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
aphorismos
“a concise definition or brief statement; literally a delimitation”
Late Greek
Greek
aphorizein
“to mark off, separate, define”
Classical Greek
Greek
horizein
“to bound, divide, determine”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ser-
“to join, bind, line up”
14th Century
Latin
aphorismus
“a concise maxim or statement”
16th Century
English
aphorisme
“a short, pithy statement of a principle”