Words / H / Law

hearsay

noun/ˈhɪəseɪ/

B2CEFR level
45/100Rarity: uncommon
TechnicalRegister

Second-hand evidence the witness did not directly perceive.

The remark was excluded as hearsay.

Similar: rumour, report

Origin: from 'hear' + 'say'.

Topic: Advocacy in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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