byword

Byword, n.

Etymology: [AS.bïword; bï, E.by+word.]

1. A common saying; a proverb; a saying that has a general currency. I knew a wise man that had it for a byword. Bacon.

2. The object of a contemptuous saying. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen. Ps. xliv. 14

Shades of meaning

Fernald has no entry of its own for byword; he lists it under proverb.

Where he writes about it:

A byword is a phrase or saying used reproachfully or contemptuously. — from proverb

none given