/ˈmɛt.ə.fɔːr/·noun·c. 1380–1450, in Middle English scholarly and literary texts; Latin form metaphora used by English scholars from the late 14th century·Established
Origin
From Greek metaphorá (transfer), built on meta- (across) + phérein (to carry), from PIE *bher-; this rhetorical term began as plain logistics — the physical movement of goods — before Aristotle conscripted it for language, making it an etymological self-portrait: a word that carriesmeaning across domains, named by doing exactly that.
Definition
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase denoting one kind of object or action is applied to another to suggest a likeness between them, without using 'like' or 'as'.
The Full Story
GreekClassical Greek, 5th–4th century BCEwell-attested
The word 'metaphor' derives from the Ancient Greek noun metaphorá (μεταφορά), formed from the verb metaphérein (μεταφέρειν), meaning 'to carry over' or 'to transfer.' The verb is a compound of the prefix metá (μετά), meaning 'over, across, beyond,' and phérein (φέρειν), meaning 'to carry, to bear.' The earliest systematic discussion appears in Aristotle's Poetics (c. 335 BCE), where he defines it as 'the application of a strange term either transferred
Did you know?
ThePIEroot *bher- (to carry) is the ancestor of both 'metaphor' and 'difference' — Latin differre means to carry apart. Every time you use these two words together (a metaphor that marks a difference, a difference clarified by metaphor) you are using two words from the same prehistoric root, one inherited through Greek and one through Latin, that have been carrying meanings in opposite directions for three thousand years.
to the Proto-Indo-European root *bher-, meaning 'to carry, to bear, to bring.' This PIE root is among the most productive in the Indo-European family: it gives Latin ferre (to carry), Old English beran (to bear), Sanskrit bharati (he carries), and Greek phérein. The prefix metá (from PIE *me-, a locative particle) shifts meaning to indicate movement 'across' or 'beyond.' English borrowed metaphor directly from Latin metaphora, which had borrowed unchanged from Greek, entering scholarly and literary usage in the late 14th to early 15th century. Cognates sharing the *bher- root include: bear (Old English beran), birth, burden, fertile (Latin fertilis), transfer (Latin transferre), and Sanskrit vibhāra. Key roots: *bher- (Proto-Indo-European: "to carry, to bear, to bring"), phérein (φέρειν) (Ancient Greek: "to carry, to bear, to bring — direct PIE *bher- descendant"), metá (μετά) (Ancient Greek: "over, across, beyond, among — indicating transference or change of position").