parable

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The Word of the Day for March 3 is:

parable   \PAIR-uh-bul\   noun
     : example; specifically : a usually short fictitious story 
that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle 

Example sentence:
     The novel is a modern-day parable about appreciating what 
you have.

Did you know? 
     "Parable" comes to us via Anglo-French from the Late 
Latin "parabola," which in turn comes from the Greek "parabole," 
meaning "comparison." The word "parabola" may look familiar if 
you remember your geometry. The mathematical "parabola" refers 
to a kind of comparison between a fixed point and a straight 
line, resulting in a parabolic curve; it came to English from 
New Latin (Latin as used since the end of the medieval period 
especially in scientific description and 
classification). "Parable," however, descends from Late Latin 
(the Latin language used by writers in the 3rd to 6th 
centuries). The Late Latin term "parabola" referred to verbal 
comparisons: it essentially meant "allegory" or "speech." Other 
English descendants of the Late Latin "parabola" are "parole" 
and "palaver."