Plural of hearsay: information heard from someone else rather than known firsthand; rumor or secondhand reports.
Compound of 'hear' and 'say,' originally used in legal contexts (early 13th century) to describe testimony based on what someone was told rather than what they witnessed. The legal definition remains its most precise use.
In courtrooms, 'hearsay' is basically banned—judges know that gossip games show how information gets twisted. Your friend telling you what someone else said isn't reliable enough to use as evidence, which is why lawyers hate hearsays so much.
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