In linguistics, periphrasis (/pəˈrɪfrəsɪs/) is the usage of multiple separate words to carry the meaning of prefixes, suffixes or verbs, among other things, where either would be possible. It is a device where grammatical meaning is expressed by one or more free morphemes (typically one or more function words accompanying a content word), instead of by inflectional affixes or derivation. The word periphrasis originates from the Greek word periphrazein, which means talking around.