International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

BACKBITE

bak'-bit raghal; doloo: To slander the absent, like a dog biting behind the back, where one cannot see; to go about as a talebearer. "He that backbiteth [Revised Version, slandereth] not with his tongue" (Psalm 15:3).

Backbiters bak'-bit-rz (Greek katalaloi: Men who speak against. Vulgate, "detractors" (Romans 1:30)).

Backbiting bak'-bit-ing: cether: Adj. "a backbiting tongue"; literally, "a tongue of secrecy" (Proverbs 25:23). katalalia: substantive "a speaking against" (2 Corinthians 12:20; Wisdom 1:11); "evil speaking" (1 Peter 2:1). glossa trite: "a backbiting tongue" (the King James Version of Ecclesiasticus 28:14, 15); more literally translated in the Revised Version (British and American) "a third person's tongue."

T. Rees