IDIOM
What does "IDIOM" mean?
A phrase whose meaning cannot be guessed from the literal meanings of its words.
Meanings
- A fixed expression whose overall meaning differs from the literal sense of its parts. "Kick the bucket" is an idiom that has nothing to do with buckets.
- The characteristic style or manner of expression of a language, group, or art form. The composer worked entirely within the jazz idiom. formal
Did you know?
- 'Idiom', 'idiot', and 'idiosyncrasy' are cousins - all grow from the Greek 'idios', 'one's own', so an idiom is literally a phrase a language has made privately, peculiarly, its own.
Word origin
From Greek 'idioma' (a peculiarity, a property of one's own), from 'idios' (one's own, private) - the same root behind 'idiot' and 'idiosyncrasy'; via Latin into English.
Remember it
An IDIOM is a phrase a language calls its OWN - and the Greek root 'idios' means exactly that: one's own.
A little poem
No bucket falls when someone 'kicks' it here;
the words have wandered off from what they say -
a language keeping secrets from itself.
tercet
Wordplay
- I tried to translate the idiom 'it's raining cats and dogs' word for word. Now my foreign friend keeps an umbrella and a leash.
What it teaches
Idioms are a culture's inside jokes worn smooth by use - to learn them is to be let in on what the words really mean.
Quick facts
What does IDIOM mean?
A phrase whose meaning cannot be guessed from the literal meanings of its words.
Is IDIOM a valid word?
Yes — IDIOM is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is IDIOM?
IDIOM has 5 letters and 3 syllables.
Where does IDIOM come from?
From Greek 'idioma' (a peculiarity, a property of one's own), from 'idios' (one's own, private) - the same root behind 'idiot' and 'idiosyncrasy'; via Latin into English.
What can IDIOM teach us?
Idioms are a culture's inside jokes worn smooth by use - to learn them is to be let in on what the words really mean.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.