FreeScrabbleDictionary

byword

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
15
Words With Friends
15
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈbaɪ.wə(ɹ)d/ (UK)
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˈbaɪ.wə(ɹ)d/ (UK) · /ˈbaɪ.wɚd/ (US)

Definition of byword

5 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. A proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
See all 5 definitions

noun

  1. A proverb or proverbial expression, common saying; a frequently used word or phrase.
  2. A characteristic word or expression; a word or phrase associated with a person or group.
  3. Someone or something that stands as an example (i.e. metonymically) for something else, by having some of that something's characteristic traits.
    “Illustrious unfortunates attract a wider sympathy, not because their griefs are more intense, but because, being set on lofty pedestals, they the better serve mankind as instances and bywords of calamity.”
  4. An object of notoriety or contempt, scorn or derision.
    “He hath made me also a byword of the people […]”
    “"I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister's name a by-word."”
  5. A nickname or epithet.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English byword, byworde (“proverb”), from Old English bīword, bīwyrd, bīwyrde (“proverb, household word", also "adverb”), from Proto-West Germanic *bīwurdī, equivalent to by- + word. Compare Latin proverbium, which…

See full etymology

From Middle English byword, byworde (“proverb”), from Old English bīword, bīwyrd, bīwyrde (“proverb, household word", also "adverb”), from Proto-West Germanic *bīwurdī, equivalent to by- + word. Compare Latin proverbium, which byword may possibly be a translation of. Cognate with Old High German pīwurti (“proverb”). Compare also Old English bīspel (“proverb, example”), bīcwide (“byword, proverb, tale, fable”), Dutch bijwoord (“adverb”).

Anagrams of byword

1 play · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from byword

33 playable · top: DOWRY (12 pts)

Best play dowry 12 points

5-letter words

2 words

4-letter words

6 words

3-letter words

15 words

2-letter words

9 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to byword to make another valid word.

Back

Find your best play with byword

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes byword, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.

Find more plays Browse word lists