News is the communication of information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.

One theory is that news developed as a special use of the plural form of new in the 14th century. In Middle English, the equivalent word was newes, like the French nouvelles and the German neues. Somewhat similar developments are found in some of the Slavic languages (Czech and Slovak), where there exists a word noviny ("news"), developed from the word nový ("new"), and in the Celtic languages (Welsh and Cornish) where there are the words newyddion and nowodhow, respectively from W. newydd and C. nowydh.

A folk etymology incorrectly suggests that it is an acronym of the cardinal directions: north, east, west, and south.