Definition

properly, a pithy maxim, usually of metaphorical nature; hence, a simile (as an adage, poem, discourse)

Etymology

apparently from H4910 (מָשַׁל) in some original sense of superiority in mental action;

Where the KJV renders it

• byword
• like
• parable
• proverb

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.