rumor

• rumour (Commonwealth)

From Middle English rumour, from Old French rumeur, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (“to shout, to roar”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹuːmə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹumɚ/
• Rhymes: -uːmə(ɹ)

rumor (countable and uncountable, plural rumors) (American spelling)

1. (countable) A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.

   There's a rumor going round that he's going to get married.

   vile rumor

   a rumor going round

   vicious rumors

   spread a rumor

2. (uncountable) Information or misinformation of the kind contained in such claims.

   They say he used to be a thief, but that's just rumor.

3. (uncountable, archaic) Report, news, information in general.
   • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎^[2], London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 3:

     It stands a city aloof. There hath been no rumour of it—I alone have dreamed of it, and I may not be sure that my dreams are true.

4. (uncountable, obsolete) Fame, reputation.
5. (uncountable, obsolete) Clamor, din, outcry.

• (piece of information):
• (information of questionable accuracy): gossip, hearsay, talk, tittle-tattle

• information

rumor (third-person singular simple present rumors, present participle rumoring, simple past and past participle rumored)

1. (transitive, usually used in the passive voice) To tell a rumor about; to gossip.

   John is rumored to be next in line for a promotion.

Borrowed from Latin rūmōrem (a borrowing per DCVB). Doublet of remor. First attested in the 14th century.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ruˈmor]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ruˈmo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ruˈmoɾ]

rumor m or (archaic, regional or poetic) f (plural rumors)

1. rumor

• “rumor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from English rumor, from Middle English rumour, from Old French rumeur, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (“to shout, to roar”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈrumor/ [ˈru.mɔr]
• Rhymes: -umor
• Syllabification: ru‧mor

rumor (plural rumor-rumor)

1. rumor, rumour

   Synonyms: desas-desus, isu, kabar angin, kabar burung

2. gossip

   Synonyms: gosip, gunjingan

• “rumor”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

From Proto-Italic *roumōs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (“to shout, to roar”).^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈruː.mɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈruː.mor]

rūmor m (genitive rūmōris); third declension

1. rumor, hearsay, gossip
   • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Catullus 5 1–3:

     Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus,
     rumoresque senum severiorum
     omnes unius aestimemus assis.

     Let us live, my Lesbia, and love, and account all the rumours of very grave old men as worth a single penny.

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 4.5:

     His rebus atque auditionibus permoti de summis saepe rebus consilia ineunt, quorum eos in vestigio paenitere necesse est, cum incertis rumoribus serviant et pleri ad voluntatem eorum ficta respondeant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. the voice of the people, the common opinion; (also) fame, reputation
   • 20 BCE – 14 BCE, Horatius, Epistulae IX.9–11:

     Quid quaeris? Vivo et regno, simul ista reliqui
     Quae vos ad caelum fertis rumore secundo,
     Utque sacerdotis fugitivus liba recuso,
     Pane egeo iam mellitis potiore placentis.

     What do you want from me? I live, I am my own master, I left behind the self same things you by common approval so eagerly covet, like the fugitive I have no right to the priest's blessed cake, but bread will quench my hunger over any honeyed delicacy.

3. (figuratively, poetic) rustle, murmur, a murmuring

Third-declension noun.

• “rumor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “rumor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "rumor", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “rumor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • report says; people say: rumor, fama, sermo est or manat
    
  • a rumour is prevalent: rumor, fama viget
    
  • a report, an impression is gaining ground: rumor increbrescit
    
  • to spread a rumour: rumorem spargere
    
  • vague rumours reach us: dubii rumores afferuntur ad nos
    

Learned borrowing from Latin rūmor.

• Rhymes: -umɔr
• Syllabification: ru‧mor

rumor m inan

1. din, hubbub, racket, tumult, uproar

   Synonyms: wrzawa, zamieszanie

2. (Łowicz) synonym of hałas

• “rumor”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)
• Marzena Kozanecka-Zwierz, Magdalena Bartosiewicz, Renata Marciniak-Firadza, editors (2014), “rumor”, in Gwara – Księżaków "język ojczysty" Dziedzictwo regionu łowickiego (in Polish), Łowicz: Muzeum w Łowiczu, →ISBN, page 54

From Latin rumōrem.

• Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -oɾ, (Brazil) -oʁ
• Hyphenation: ru‧mor

rumor m (plural rumores)

1. rumour (statement or claim from no known reliable source)
2. continuous noise
   • 1890, Aluizio Azevedo, O Cortiço, Rio de Janeiro: B. L. Garnier:

     No confuso rumor que se formava, destacavam-se risos, sons de vozes que altercavam, sem se saber de onde, grasnar de marrecos, cantar de galos, cacarejar de galinhas.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:rumor.

• “rumor”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “rumor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Latin rumorem.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ruˈmoɾ/ [ruˈmoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ru‧mor

rumor m (plural rumores)

1. rumor

   Synonym: fábula

2. murmur

   Synonym: murmurio

• “rumor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from Spanish rumor.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ɾuˈmoɾ/ [ɾʊˈmoɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ru‧mor

rumór (Baybayin spelling ᜇᜓᜋᜓᜇ᜔)

1. rumor

   Synonyms: tsismis, bali-balita, usap-usapan, bulong-bulungan