different between eyewitness vs hearsay

English

Alternative forms

• eye-witness
• eye witness

Etymology

eye +? witness

Noun

eyewitness (plural eyewitnesses)

1. Someone who sees an event and can report or testify about it. [from 16th c.]

Translations

Verb

eyewitness (third-person singular simple present eyewitnesses, present participle eyewitnessing, simple past and past participle eyewitnessed)

1. To be present at an event, and see it

English

Etymology

From Middle English hyere-zigginge (1340), here sey (ca. 1438), from the phrase heren seien (“to hear [people] say”). Compare equally old Middle High German hœrsagen (14th c.), whence modern Hörensagen.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: hear?say

Noun

hearsay (usually uncountable, plural hearsays)

1. Information that was heard by one person about another that cannot be adequately substantiated.
2. (law) Evidence based on the reports of others, which is normally inadmissible because it was not made under oath, rather than on personal knowledge.
3. (law) An out-of-court statement offered in court for the truth of the matter asserted, which is normally inadmissible because it is not subject to cross-examination unless the hearsay statement falls under one of a number of exceptions.

Derived terms

• double hearsay

Synonyms

• common talk
• gossip
• report
• rumor

Translations

See also

• as they say
• hear
• hear tell
• so they say
• you know what they say

Further reading

• hearsay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• hearsay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.