'backbite' originates from Old English and Middle English elements, specifically 'back' (Old English 'bæc') and 'bite' (Old English 'bītan'), where 'back' meant 'back, rear' and 'bītan' meant 'to bite'.

'backbite' changed from the Middle English form 'bakbiten' and eventually became the modern English word 'backbite' (with the past participle 'backbitten').

Initially it carried the literal sense of 'bite at the back' or attack from behind; over time it evolved into the figurative meaning 'to speak maliciously about someone behind their back'.