Badmouth

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbæd.maʊθ/

Origin

Calque from Mandinka.

Smitherman, Geneva (1977), Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Alternative forms

• bad-mouth

Full definition of badmouth

Verb

1. (informal) To criticize or malign, especially unfairly or spitefully.
• 1987 August 30, Benedict Nightingale, Theater: England's Endless Love Affair with Farce, New York Times (retrieved 22 July 2013). . . those cross-Atlantic aficionados who persistently idolize the British theater and bad-mouth Broadway.