how to say “to badmouth” in Hebrew
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /]לְדַבֵּר לָשׁוֹן הָרַע, לְהוֹצִיא דִּיבָּה, לְרַכֵל, לְלַכְלֵךְ
Human nature has it that we tend to derive lewd pleasure from speaking badly about other people.
Hebrew has a few ways of saying to badmouth.
There’s לדבר לשון הרע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] – to speak the evil tongue. This term comes from the Talmud and is today part of Israeli law – the criminal offense of defamation. לדבר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] – to speak – is a פיעל verb.
A subcategory of לשון הרע[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] is הוצאת דיבה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] – literally, bringing out (to light) false rumors. The verb is להוציא[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] – to bring out, a הפעיל verb.
But לדבר לשון הרע and להוציא דיבה are legalistic terms that don’t typically make it into everyday conversation. More often, people use לרכל[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] – to gossip, a פיעל verb.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /]הם מרכלים עלינו.
They’re gossiping about us.
There’s also the slang expression ללכלך[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /] – literally, to dirty, also a פיעל verb.
For example:
[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ללכלך-#.m4a” /]למה ללכלך עליו? מה הוא עשה לך?
Why badmouth him? What did he do to you (a male)?
