This is the first entry in what will most likely become an ongoing series highlighting fun words (usually from other languages). Today’s word: chisme.
Simply put, chisme is the Spanish word for gossip.
The proposed etymologies on Wiktionary are pretty amusing:
Etymology 1 Uncertain. A connection to cisma (“schism; discord”) has been proposed on the grounds that rumours can cause strife. Coromines considers it more likely to be a further evolution of etymology 2 below.
Etymology 2 From Old Spanish çisme f, from Latin cīmicem m. Initial consonant altered presumably by association with the synonymous doublet chinche.
The source terms in etymology 2 refer to…the bedbug (genus Cimex). Think about that the next time you feel like sharing a juicy bit of gossip!