Pleonasm (, from Greek πλεονασμός pleonasmos from πλέον pleon "more, too much") is the use of more words or parts of words than is necessary or sufficient for clear expression: examples are black darkness, burning fire, or people's democracy. Such redundancy is, by traditional rhetorical criteria, a manifestation of tautology. That being said, one may employ pleonasm for emphasis, or because the phrase has already become established in a certain form.