Stories or pieces of information spread among people that may not be true or verified, often about other people or events.
From Old French 'rumour,' derived from Latin 'rumor' meaning 'noise' or 'report.' The word originally meant any public talk or hearsay. It entered English in the 1300s. The spelling 'rumours' is British; Americans spell it 'rumors.'
Latin 'rumor' literally meant 'noise'—the Romans saw rumors as just noise floating around the marketplace with no substance! It's the perfect description because rumors are essentially social noise that spreads faster than truth, which is why ancient thinkers worried about them way before social media.
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