noun
- a traditional saying expressing a common experience or observation; proverb.
noun
- a traditional saying that is accepted by many as true or partially true; proverb
1540s, Middle French adage, from Latin adagium “adage, proverb,” apparently from adagio, from ad- “to” (see ad-) + *agi-, root of aio “I say,” from PIE *ag- “to speak.” But Tucker thinks the second element is rather ago “set in motion, drive, urge.”