Etymology

hearsay

hear·say
H4E1A1R1S1A1Y4

Today it means: Information that was heard by one person about another that cannot be adequately substantiated. Full definition →

Middle English hyere-zigginge
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromhyere-zigginge
  2. English todayhearsay

From Middle English hyere-zigginge (1340), here sey (ca. 1438), from the phrase heren seien (“to hear [people] say”). Compare equally old Middle High German hœrsagen (14th c.), whence modern Hörensagen.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.