phrase

Pronunciation

• IPA: /freɪz/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin phrasis (“diction”),^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “speech, way of speaking”),^[2][3][5] from φράζω (phrázō, “to point out, tell, declare”),^[2][3] of uncertain origin; it may be connected with φρήν (phrḗn, “mind, heart, midriff”) (see frenetic).^[3][2] Early English also used the Latin form phrasis, and Hoad suggests the singular phrase was evolved from its plural, phrases.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Manner or style of expression, and a small group of words expressing a single notion: 1530, in Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

A characteristic or pithy expression, a set phrase, is from 1579.^[7][5] In music, a short passage forming a more or less independent unit is from 1789.^[7] In grammar a phrase became a group of words without a finite verb, as opposed to a clause.^[7][8] In Scots and northern dialect phrase was exclamatory or exaggerated talk, a fuss (1725).^[7][9] The verb meant to use phrases before 1550 and to express in a particular way from 1570,^[2] the 1560s in Etymonline.^[3] Phraseology is from the 17th century, from a spurious Greek form.^[5]

Timeline

• 1530 – a manner of expression, a group of words.^[2][7]
• 1570 – to express in words.^[2]
• 1579 – a characteristic expression.^[7]
• 1725 – fuss, exaggerated talk, in Scots.^[7]
• 1789 – a musical phrase.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of words that form a unit, especially one without a finite verb within a clause.
2. A short, apt expression, or a characteristic way of saying something.
3. (music) A short passage forming a unit in a melody.

Verb

1. To express in words, especially in a particular way.
2. (music) To divide into or perform in phrases.

Word family

• phrasal
• phrasally
• catchphrase
• phrasemaker
• phraseology
• misphrase
• phrasemonger
• phraseogram

Related words

• paraphrase
• rephrase
• periphrasis
• frenetic
• frenzy

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)