What does apothegm mean?
An apothegm is a short, pithy saying that packs instruction or wisdom into a single memorable line — the kind of remark attributed to sages, statesmen, and wits across the centuries. Classic examples include "Know thyself," handed down from the Oracle at Delphi, and countless maxims recorded by writers such as Plutarch and Francis Bacon. The term derives from the Greek "apophthegma," meaning something spoken out plainly and without elaboration, and it entered English in the sixteenth century. In tone, the word is formal and literary: it suggests gravity and distillation rather than casual banter, distinguishing it from lighter cousins like the epigram. Though rarely heard in ordinary conversation today, apothegm survives in essays, anthologies of quotations, and critical writing about rhetoric. It rewards the reader who enjoys language at its most compressed — a whole philosophy, ideally, in a single breath.
nounAn apothegm is a short, pithy, instructive saying or maxim, typically one expressed tersely and memorably.
- A short, pithy, instructive saying or maxim.
"Voltaire's wit produced an apothegm for every occasion, each polished to a razor's edge."
""Know thyself" remains perhaps the most famous apothegm of the ancient world."
"The retired judge had a habit of closing his lectures with some homely apothegm drawn from decades on the bench."
Standard pluralization; no irregular forms exist. The older variant 'apophthegms' follows the same pattern.
"The anthology gathers apothegms from philosophers, generals, and poets alike."
The word 'apothegm' comes from the Greek 'apophthegma', meaning something spoken out plainly — a truth delivered without ornament.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of apothegm
The word traces back to the Greek "apophthegma" (ἀπόφθεγμα), meaning a short, plain-spoken utterance or maxim, formed from "apophthengesthai", to speak out clearly. It passed into Latin and then into English in the sixteenth century, where both the forms "apophthegm" and the simplified "apothegm" took hold; the shorter spelling eventually became standard in American usage while the longer one lingered in British texts. Related Greek-derived terms sharing the root include "apophthegm" itself as the older variant and, more distantly, words built on the Greek verb "phthengeisthai", to speak.
Related word forms
How apothegm is actually used
Apothegm is a somewhat formal, literary term, more common in scholarly or refined prose than in everyday speech. It carries connotations of wisdom, gravity, and compression — the speaker of an apothegm is assumed to have distilled genuine insight. The variant spelling 'apophthegm' preserves the fuller Greek form and appears chiefly in older British texts.
Easily confused with apothegm
An epigram is a witty, often satirical poem or pointed remark, whereas an apothegm is specifically an instructive or philosophical saying.
An apostrophe is a punctuation mark (or a literary address to an absent person), while an apothegm is a terse maxim — the two share only visual and phonetic similarity.