What do you call a phrase that conveys popular wisdom ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ etc

single-word-requests

Phrases like:

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

No use crying over spilt milk.

Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

I feel like I'm blanking here.

I googled one, and I get proverb.

But I don't feel like I hear that in common use.

Is there another word that describes such a phrase? I feel like idiom doesn't actually fit, as an idiom according to Merriam-Webster:

an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its separate words but that has a separate meaning of its own

Best Answer

Aphorism

a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation, as “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton)

Source: Merriam-Webster

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