slander
UK[ˈslɑːndə]US[ˈslændər]
n
The crime of making a false spoken statement that damages someone's reputation.
v
To make a false spoken statement that damages someone's reputation.
Etymology
The word 'slander' entered English in the 13th century from the Old French esclandre, which meant "scandal" or "disgrace." Its deeper roots trace back to the Late Latin scandalum and the Greek skándalon, terms that originally referred to a physical trap or snare. This concrete meaning evolved metaphorically to signify a cause of moral stumbling or offense, a trap for one's reputation. Over time, as the word passed through French into English, its meaning narrowed specifically to the legal concept of malicious, false, and defamatory speech, capturing the idea of words that act as a trap to bring down another person's good name.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword from Old French. Its ultimate origin is the Late Latin verb scandalizāre, meaning "to cause to stumble" or "to give offense," which itself derives from the Greek noun skándalon, meaning "a trap or stumbling block."
Examples
The politician sued the newspaper for slander after it published false claims about his past.
She accused her former colleague of slandering her to potential employers.
In many jurisdictions, slander is distinguished from libel, which concerns written defamation.