## Etymology
From Anglo-French esclaundre, Old French esclandre ('scandalous statement'), an alteration of Latin scandalum ('cause of offense'), from Greek skandalon ('snare, stumbling block').

## AI Etymology
Slander comes from Anglo-French esclaundre, Old French esclandre ('scandalous statement'), an alteration of Latin scandalum ('cause of offense'), from Greek skandalon ('snare, stumbling block'). The historical chain includes Old French esclandre, Latin scandalum, and Ancient Greek skandalon. Older glosses in the chain include "scandalous statement", "cause of offense", and "snare, stumbling block", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, slander is best read as borrowing, yielding an English noun and verb shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun and verb, with the sense "a false spoken statement that damages someone's reputation". English derivatives include slanderer and slanderous; related forms include scandal. The result is an English noun and verb whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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