Other forms: gossiping, gossips
Gossip is talk about other people's private lives — who is seeing whom, who is about to be sacked. Two colleagues by the kettle, voices dropping when a third walks in.
As a verb, you gossip about somebody, and a person who does it a lot is a gossip. When it means the talk, it is uncountable: a piece of gossip, a bit of gossip, some gossip, never gossips. In Britain, having a good gossip with an old friend is warm and harmless, closer to a long catch-up. The trade has its own furniture — a gossip column, gossip magazines, office gossip. There is a sting in the word all the same, since calling somebody a gossip is not a compliment.
1noungossipTalk about other people's private business, especially what they would not want repeated.~64%
“Most of the gossip about the new manager turned out to be wrong.”
synonyms: rumour, hearsay
2verbtalkTo talk about other people's private business.~32%
“They stood in the car park gossiping for twenty minutes after the meeting.”
3nountalksA person who talks a lot about other people's private business.~2%
“Her uncle is a terrible gossip and repeats everything by Sunday.”
4nounlongIn British English, a long friendly chat.~2%
“Come round on Thursday and we'll have a proper gossip.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 6 sentences found in the wild and placed 6 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
gossip is a kind of talk.
Gossip began as Old English godsibb, a godparent: god plus sib, a relative. Your godsib stood beside you at a baptism, so the word came to mean a close friend and confidant, spelled godsybbe in Middle English. From the confidant to the talk that confidants make is a short step, and French did exactly the same thing with commérage, built from its word for godmother.
Old English
godsibb — godparent, sponsor
Middle English
godsybbe
English, today
gossip
Built from
From Middle English godsybbe, godsib (“a close friend or relation, a confidant; a godparent”), from Old English godsibb (“godparent, sponsor”), equivalent to god + sib. a doublet of godsib. For sense evolution to "gossip, discussing others' personal affairs," compare French commérage.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA