noun
gossip
light informal conversation for social occasions
Where it comes from
Gossip descends from Old English godsibb, formed from god and sibb, a relative or person joined by kinship. It named a godparent or baptismal sponsor, someone made spiritual kin through the ceremony.
How the meaning developed
The kinship term widened to a close friend or familiar companion. It then came to label an idle talker, and only afterward did gossip name the intimate or trivial talk itself; the word moved from a person in a sacred relationship to a person talking, then to the talk.
Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-09-25. Report a correction.