locution

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
locution /ləˈkjuːʃ(ə)n/

▶noun

• 1 a word or phrase, especially with regard to style or idiom.

  ■ a person's style of speech.

• 2 an utterance regarded in terms of its intrinsic meaning or reference, as distinct from its function or purpose in context.

– derivatives
locutionary adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr., or from L. locutio(n-), from loqui ‘speak’.