"of, pertaining to, or consisting of a phrase; consisting of two or more words," 1860; see phrase (n.) + -al (1). Related: Phrasally.
Entries linking to phrasal
phrase n.
1520s, "manner or style of expression," also "brief expression with some unity; two or more words expressing what is practically a single notion," from Late Latin phrasis "diction," from Greek phrasis "speech, way of speaking, enunciation, phraseology," from phrazein "to tell, declare, indicate, point out, show, inform," also passively (phrazomai), "indicate to oneself, think or muse upon, consider; think up, contrive; suppose, believe, imagine; perceive, observe."
The Greek verb is of uncertain origin; perhaps it is connected with phrenes "wits, senses, sanity," phrēn "the mind, the heart," literally "midriff, diaphragm" (see phreno-). The musical sense of "a short and somewhat independent passage from a piece" is from 1789. Phrase-book "collection of expressions peculiar to a language" is by 1590s.
-al 1
suffix forming adjectives from nouns or other adjectives, "of, like, related to, pertaining to," Middle English -al, -el, from French or directly from Latin -alis (see -al (2)).