What does backbite mean?
To backbite is to speak spitefully or maliciously about a person who is not present — in effect, to attack them with words while safely out of earshot. The word is formed from "back" (meaning behind one's back) and "bite" (a verbal wound), and it has carried this meaning since at least the sixteenth century. Backbiting is typically associated with gossip, office politics, and social cliques, where criticism flows freely in someone's absence but is never voiced to their face. The word carries strong negative connotations, implying not just unfairness but cowardice and disloyalty. While it remains current, it leans formal or literary; everyday speakers are more likely to say "badmouth" or "talk behind someone's back." Related forms include the noun "backbiter" (one who does it) and "backbiting" (the practice itself), making the word useful for describing both the act and the person committing it.
verbTo say spiteful or malicious things about someone who is not present; to slander or defame a person behind their back.
- To speak maliciously or spitefully about an absent person.
"She refused to join in when her colleagues began to backbite the new manager."
"He was known for backbiting his rivals whenever they left the room."
"The committee's endless backbiting made it impossible to get any real work done."
The word literally combines 'behind' and 'to bite' — English has been calling out gossip as a verbal attack since the 1500s.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of backbite
"Backbite" is a compound of native English elements: "back" and "bite," combining to suggest a verbal attack delivered from behind, out of the victim's sight. The word has been attested since the sixteenth century, though the practice it describes is far older. Its derivatives — "backbiter" and "backbiting" — developed directly from it within English, and the concept appears in earlier medieval literature under related phrasing.
Related word forms
How backbite is actually used
"Backbite" is somewhat formal or literary in tone; in everyday speech people more often use "badmouth" or simply describe someone as talking behind another's back. It carries a strongly negative moral connotation of cowardice and disloyalty.
Easily confused with backbite
"Backbite" refers to speaking ill of someone behind their back, while "backstab" implies betraying them, often through deceptive or treacherous action rather than words.