Rumour

How to spell rumour

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce rumour

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rumour mean?

1. nounA piece of unverified information or talk that spreads from person to person.
2. verbTo circulate or spread as unverified information, usually in the passive.

Rumour in a sentence

• noun

  The office buzzed with a rumour about looming redundancies.

• verb

  The company was rumour to be on the verge of bankruptcy.

• noun

  There was no truth to the rumour that the shop was closing.

• verb

  The singer is widely rumour to be planning a comeback tour.

Where does rumour come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin rumor, which meant a noise, a murmur, or the kind of common talk that spreads through a crowd. It passed into English during the 1300s through Old French, where the form was rumour, carrying the sense of unverified news circulating among people. The original Latin idea of a low background noise is a useful memory hook, since a rumour is essentially talk that hums through a community without a clear source. The British and Canadian spelling keeps the -our ending inherited from the French form, while American English trimmed it to rumor; the silent extra letter is exactly the spot writers tend to drop. The same -our pattern survives in relatives such as honour and clamour, all of them keeping that French-flavoured tail.

How the word is built

• rumour (from Latin rumor: noise, common talk)
• -our (British noun suffix)

British and American spelling

Rumour is the British spelling. American English spells it rumor.