means A small group of words that work together as a unit of meaning, smaller than a clause and usually lacking a subject-verb pair on its own.

from From Greek 'phrasis,' meaning speech or a way of speaking, built on the verb 'phrazein,' to point out, declare, or tell. It traveled through Latin 'phrasis' and into English in the 1500s, where it first meant a manner of expression before settling into its modern sense of a tidy cluster of words. The same Greek root still shows up in 'paraphrase' (to tell alongside) and 'periphrasis' (to talk around).