lashon hara

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Pronunciations

lashon hara (LAH-shin HAH-rah) listen
lashon hara (lah-SHOHN hah-RAH) listen

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Definitions

  • n. The sin of gossip.

Example Sentences

  • "I would tell you, but I don't want to speak lashon hara."

  • "What I'm saying about her isn't loshn hore—it's true." "Well, that makes it even worse loshn hore!" (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • TH לשון הרע, lit. 'evil tongue' > Y לשון־הרע loshn-hóre

      • Who Uses This

      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements

      Regions

      • North America
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa
      • Australia / New Zealand

      Dictionaries

      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).

      Alternative Spellings

      loshn hore, loshon hora, lashon hora, leshon hara, l'shon hara

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