Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “paraphrase” come from?

Paraphrase comes from Middle French paraphrase, meaning to restate or interpret a text in other words.

paraphrase (English): A restatement of a text in different words, often...

Definitions

  1. A restatement of a text in different words, often...

Ancestry of “paraphrase”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchparaphrase—
2Latinparaphrasis—
3Ancient Greekπαράφρασις—
4Ancient Greek-σῐς"suffix forming nouns"
5Ancient Greek-τιςEarlier form of -σις , retained after dentals δ,...
6Proto-Indo-European-tisDerives abstract/action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “paraphrase”

  • paraphrasable
  • paraphraser
  • unparaphrasable
  • paraphrasability
  • paraphrasably
  • misparaphrase
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tis →