paraphrase
/ˈpærəfreɪz/noun, verb
A restatement preserving the original meaning
From Greek para- (beside) + Greek phrase (speech).
Lineage
para-
phrase
The story
Imagine an ancient Greek speaker placing one expression beside another, like two versions of the same scene on adjacent scrolls. That is the force of pará-, “beside,” joined to phrásis, “speech” or “expression”: not a word-for-word copy, but meaning retold from a neighboring angle. The Greek compound παράφρασις passed into Latin as paraphrasis, then into Middle French paraphrase in the 1520s, before arriving in English in the 1540s. Its cousin phrase comes from the same Greek family of telling and declaring, while metaphrastic uses meta-, “change,” for a close or literal translation. The memorable trick is spatial: to paraphrase is to put your words beside the original—not replace its meaning, but give it a new outfit.
Words from the same roots
para- · Ancient Greek, ‘beside, alongside, beyond’
Derivedparallel, paradox, parameter, parasite, paranormal
phrase · Ancient Greek, ‘speech, expression, telling’
Derivedphrase, periphrasis, metaphrastic, phrasis, phraseology
Sources
- Etymonlineparaphrase, para-, phrase, resolution, metaphrastic, intensify, translation
- Urban Dictionaryparaphrase
- Wikipediaparaphrase
- Wiktionaryparaphrase, para-, phrase