vocabulary - A word for saying things indirectly because you do not know the correct word


Is there a word that describes the act, common of language learners, of using a cumbersome way to say something because they do not know a concise word (almost like I am doing here...).


For example:


That woman is the sister of my father.


Could be more efficiently said as


That woman is my aunt.


But the speaker may not know the word aunt even though they know father and sister.



Answer



Circumlocution


And by proxy: roundabout speech, circumduction, circumvolution, periphrasis, or ambage



Roundabout speech refers to using many words (such as "a tool used for cutting things such as paper and hair") to describe something for which a concise (and commonly known) expression exists



source: wikipedia


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