badmouth

badmouth

See also: bad-mouth

English

Alternative forms

• bad-mouth

Etymology

Calque of a Mande term, perhaps Vai [Term?][1] or Mandinka [Term?],[2] which entered English via Gullah [Term?].[3] Compare Japanese 悪口(わるぐち) (waruguchi, “badmouthing”), which is a compound of 悪(わる) (waru, “bad, wicked”) and 口(くち) (kuchi, “mouth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæd.maʊθ/

Verb

badmouth (third-person singular simple present badmouths, present participle badmouthing, simple past and past participle badmouthed)

1. (informal) To criticize or malign, especially unfairly or spitefully.
   • 1987 August 30, Benedict Nightingale, Theater: England's Endless Love Affair with Farce, New York Times (retrieved 22 July 2013):

     […] those cross-Atlantic aficionados who persistently idolize the British theater and bad-mouth Broadway.

Translations

to criticize or malign, especially unfairly or spitefully

Bengali: গীবত গাওয়া (gībôt gaẇa) Catalan: malparlar (ca) Dutch: kwaadspreken (nl) Finnish: panetella (fi), puhua pahaa (fi) French: dénigrer (fr), déprécier (fr), débiner (fr) German: schlechtreden (de), schlechtmachen (de) Japanese: 悪口 (ja) (waruguchi) Portuguese: falar mal Romanian: ponegri (ro) Russian: черни́ть (ru) (černítʹ), поро́чить (ru) (poróčitʹ), матери́ть (ru) (materítʹ) (to swear dirtily at), обли́вать гря́зью (oblívatʹ grjázʹju) Swahili: sengenya Swedish: tala illa om

References

1. “badmouth”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
2. Smitherman, Geneva (1977), Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America (Boston: Houghton Mifflin)
3. The Atlantic World, 1450-2000 (2008, →ISBN, page 58