Rumor

How to spell rumor

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce rumor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rumor mean?

1. nounAn unverified story or piece of information passed from person to person.
2. verbTo spread or report something as unverified talk, usually in passive form.

Rumor in a sentence

• noun

  A rumor about layoffs spread quickly through the office.

• verb

  Critics rumor that the company is preparing to cut staff.

• noun

  There is no truth to the rumor that the store is closing.

• verb

  People often rumor things they cannot actually confirm.

Where does rumor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin rumor, which literally meant a noise, a murmur, or the general clamour of a crowd, and by extension the common talk or hearsay that spreads through a community. English took it up in the late 1300s by way of Old French rumour, originally describing widespread report or general gossip whose truth was unverified. The sense narrowed over time to its modern meaning: an unconfirmed story passed from person to person. The American spelling drops the 'u' of the older 'rumour', following Noah Webster's nineteenth-century reforms that trimmed the French-influenced -our endings down to -or, the same change that gave color, honor, and labor. That missing 'u' is the whole spelling trap, since British and Canadian writers keep it.

How the word is built

• rumor (from Latin rumor: noise, common talk, hearsay)

British and American spelling

Rumor is the American spelling. British English spells it rumour.