Circumlocution, like its Greek counterpart periphrasis, is a figure of speech where the meaning of a word or phrase is indirectly expressed through several or many words. (Periphrasis is of Greek origin [περίφρασις < peri (περί) "about, around" + phrasis (φράσις) "speech, expression"], while circumlocution is Latin—both meaning "a roundabout manner of speaking".)

In linguistics, circumlocution is a device by which a grammatical concept is expressed by a phrase or standard idiom, instead of being shown by inflection, derivation or the use of non-content words. The pattern of the phrase is called a circumlocution, or alternatively a periphrastic construction. For example, the English future tense is periphrastic: it is formed with an auxiliary verb (will) followed by the base form of the main verb. The so-called compound tenses and all the modal expressions in English, as well as the passive voice, are also periphrastic.

In a more general sense, circumlocution and periphrasis mean describing a word with other words, for example: "scissors" = "a thing you use to cut other things". Circumlocution is often helpful while learning a new language, when one does not know the word for a particular thing. In the constructed language Basic English this is used to decrease the size of the necessary vocabulary.

Circumlocution also means replacing a word with another (or others), often in order to sound more polite, to avoid a controversial or trademarked term or to be ironic. In this context, see also euphemism.

Sometimes, circumlocution is used to insert a controversial or trademarked name into a well-known phrase for comic effect, for example, "I believe in calling a spade a Spear and Jackson 16B."

Charles Dickens dedicated Chapter 10 of his novel Little Dorrit to writing about “The Circumlocution Office”. This is a reference to the inefficiencies within the British Government in the early 1800s.

See also

• Compound (linguistics)
• Inflection
• Analytic language

External links

• Circumlocution in figures of speech