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Lashon hara (or loshon horo, or loshon hora) (לשון הרע; "evil tongue") is the halakhic term for speech about a person or persons that is negative or harmful to them, even though it is true. It is speech that damages the person(s) that are talked about either emotionally or financially, or lowers them in the estimation of others. Lashon hara differs from the more severe prohibition of hotzaat shem ra, "making a bad name," in that hotzaat shem ra consists of untrue statements. Lashon hara is considered to be a very serious sin in the Jewish tradition. The communicator of lashon hara (which is included in rechilut) violates the Torah prohibition of lo telech rachil b'ameicha, translating to "thou shalt not go up and down as a among thy people" (Leviticus 19:16 KJV). Speech is considered to be lashon hara (detraction) if it says something negative about a person or party, is not seriously intended to correct or improve a negative situation, and is true. Statements that fit this description are considered to be lashon hara, regardless of the method of communication that is used, whether it is through face-to-face conversation, a letter, telephone, or email, or even body language. By contrast, hotzaat shem ra ("spreading a bad name") – also called hotzaat diba or motzi shem ra (lit. "putting out a bad name") – consists of lies, and is best translated as "slander" or "defamation" (calumny). Hotzaat shem ra is an even graver sin than lashon hara. The act of gossiping is called rechilut, and is also forbidden by halakha. The phrase consists of the noun ("tongue"), the definite article , and the adjective ("evil"). The Hebrew noun means "tongue" and – as in many languages – "speech" or "language". The phrase is generally translated as "evil speech". The term corresponds to the idea of an "evil tongue" in other cultures, such as the Latin mala lingua, the French mauvaise langue, and the Spanish mala lengua. The term lashon hara is not mentioned in the Tanakh, but "keep thy tongue from evil" () occurs in Psalm 34:14.

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