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{{Short description|Words in two languages that sound similar but have very different meanings}}
{{Short description|Words in two languages that sound similar but have very different meanings}}
{{Distinguish|False cognate}}
{{Distinguish|False cognate}}
{{Redirect|False Friends|the TV series episode|False Friends (Homeland)}}
{{Redirect|False Friends|the TV episode|False Friends (Homeland)}}
{{For|people who falsely appear to be friends|Frenemy|False flag}}
{{For|people who falsely appear to be friends|Frenemy|False flag}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2013}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2013}}
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[[File:False friends, who and where.svg|thumb|An example of false friends in German and English]]
[[File:False friends, who and where.svg|thumb|An example of false friends in German and English]]
{{Linguistics}}
{{Linguistics}}
In [[linguistics]], a '''false friend''' is a word in a different language that looks or sounds similar to a word in a given language, but differs significantly in meaning. Examples of false friends include [[English language|English]] ''embarrassed'' and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] {{Lang|es|embarazada}} ('pregnant'); English ''parents'' versus [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{Lang|pt|parentes}} and [[Italian language|Italian]] {{Lang|it|parenti}} (the latter two both meaning 'relatives'); English ''demand'' and [[French language|French]] {{Lang|fr|demander}} ('ask'); and English ''gift'', [[German language|German]] {{Lang|de|Gift}} ('poison'), and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] {{Lang|no|gift}} (both 'married' and 'poison').
In [[linguistics]], a '''false friend''' is a word or letter<ref>{{cite web
|author      = Daria
|date        = 2018-09-28
|title      = Lesson Number 2. The Russian Alphabet. False Friends.
|url        = http://www.russianteacherglasgow.com/post/lesson-number-2-the-russian-alphabet-false-friends
|website    = russianteacherglasgow.com
|location    = GB‐GLG
|publisher  = "RUSSIAN ABOUT": Russian Language Tutor in Glasgow
|access-date = 2026-01-16
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|last        = Round
|first      = Jeremy
|date        = 2019-09-20
|title      = Sanctions Screening for Russian False Friends
|url        = http://sqa-consulting.com/sanctions-screening-for-russian-false-friends/
|website    = sqa-consulting.com
|location    = GB
|publisher  = SQA Consulting
|access-date = 2026-01-16
}}</ref> in a different language that looks or sounds similar to a word in a given language, but differs significantly in meaning. Examples of false friends include [[English language|English]] ''embarrassed'' and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] {{Lang|es|embarazada}} ('pregnant'); English ''parents'' versus [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{Lang|pt|parentes}} and [[Italian language|Italian]] {{Lang|it|parenti}} (the latter two both meaning 'relatives'); English ''demand'' and [[French language|French]] {{Lang|fr|demander}} ('ask'); and English ''gift'', [[German language|German]] {{Lang|de|Gift}} ('poison'), and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] {{Lang|no|gift}} (both 'married' and 'poison').


The term was introduced by a French book, {{Lang|fr|Les faux amis: ou, Les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais}} (''False friends: or, the betrayals of English vocabulary''), published in 1928.
The term was introduced by a French book, {{Lang|fr|Les Faux Amis : ou, Les Trahisons du vocabulaire anglais}} (''False friends: or, the betrayals of English vocabulary''), published in 1928.


As well as producing completely false friends, the use of [[loanword]]s often results in the use of a word in a restricted [[Context (language use)|context]], which may then develop new meanings not found in the original language. For example, {{Lang|de|[[angst]]}} means 'fear' in a general sense (as well as 'anxiety') in German, but when it was borrowed into English in the context of [[psychology]], its meaning was restricted to a particular type of fear described as "a neurotic feeling of anxiety and depression".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_gerloan.htm|title=German Loan Words in English|publisher=About.com|access-date=2014-04-28|archive-date=2011-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607060111/http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_gerloan2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Also, {{Lang|la|gymnasium}} meant both 'a place of education' and 'a place for exercise' in [[Latin]], but its meaning became restricted to [[Gymnasium (Germany)|the former]] in German and to [[Gym|the latter]] in English, making the expressions into false friends in those languages as well as in [[Ancient Greek]], where it started out as 'a place for naked exercise'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=gymnasium|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|publisher=etymonline.com |access-date=2014-04-28}}</ref>
As well as producing completely false friends, the use of [[loanword]]s often results in the use of a word in a restricted [[Context (language use)|context]], which may then develop new meanings not found in the original language. For example, {{Lang|de|[[Angst]]}} means 'fear' in a general sense (as well as 'anxiety') in German, but when it was borrowed into English in the context of [[psychology]], its meaning was restricted to a particular type of fear described as "a neurotic feeling of anxiety and depression".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_gerloan.htm|title=German Loan Words in English|publisher=About.com|access-date=2014-04-28|archive-date=2011-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607060111/http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_gerloan2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Also, {{Lang|la|gymnasium}} meant both 'a place of education' and 'a place for exercise' in [[Latin]], but its meaning became restricted to [[Gymnasium (Germany)|the former]] in German and to [[Gym|the latter]] in English, making the expressions into false friends in those languages as well as in [[Ancient Greek]], where it started out as 'a place for naked exercise'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=gymnasium|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|publisher=etymonline.com |access-date=2014-04-28}}</ref>


== Definition and origin ==
== Definition and origin ==


False friends are bilingual [[homophone]]s or bilingual [[homograph]]s,<ref name="Korpela-2014">{{cite book |last=Korpela |first=Jukka K. |title=Introduction to Finnish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ld9BBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT35 |access-date=10 May 2018 |date=12 August 2014 |publisher=Suomen E-painos Oy |location=Helsinki |isbn=978-952-6613-26-0 |page=35}}</ref> i.e., words in two or more languages that look similar (''homographs'') or sound similar (''homophones''), but differ significantly in meaning.<ref name="Korpela-2014"/><ref name="Knospe-2016">{{cite book |last1=Knospe |first1=Sebastian |last2=Onysko  |first2=Alexander  |last3=Goth |first3=Maik |title=Crossing Languages to Play with Words: Multidisciplinary Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuUsDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |access-date=10 May 2018 |date=26 September 2016 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-11-046560-0 |page=116 |oclc=954201320}}</ref>
False friend ''words'' are bilingual [[homophone]]s or bilingual [[homograph]]s,<ref name="Korpela-2014">{{cite book |last=Korpela |first=Jukka K. |title=Introduction to Finnish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ld9BBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT35 |access-date=10 May 2018 |date=12 August 2014 |publisher=Suomen E-painos Oy |location=Helsinki |isbn=978-952-6613-26-0 |page=35}}</ref> i.e., words in two or more languages that look similar (''homographs'') or sound similar (''homophones''), but differ significantly in meaning.<ref name="Korpela-2014"/><ref name="Knospe-2016">{{cite book |last1=Knospe |first1=Sebastian |last2=Onysko  |first2=Alexander  |last3=Goth |first3=Maik |title=Crossing Languages to Play with Words: Multidisciplinary Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuUsDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA116 |access-date=10 May 2018 |date=26 September 2016 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-11-046560-0 |page=116 |oclc=954201320}}</ref> False friend ''letters'' are homographic [[grapheme]]s (written characters) that differ significantly in pronunciation. 


The origin of the term is as a shortened version of the expression "false friend of a translator", the English translation of a French expression ({{langx|fr|faux amis du traducteur}}) introduced by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in their 1928 book,<ref name="Aronoff-2008">{{cite book|last1=Aronoff|first1=Mark|last2=Rees-Miller|first2=Janie|title=The Handbook of Linguistics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aFqB-R0MrgC&pg=PA698|access-date=21 December 2019|date=15 April 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=New York|isbn=978-0-470-75634-8|page=698|oclc=897574627}}, referring to {{cite book |language=fr |last1=Koessler |first1=Maxime |last2=Derocquigny |first2=Jules |title=Les faux amis: ou, Les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (conseils aux traducteurs)  |trans-title=False Friends, or the treacherous pitfalls of English vocabulary (advice for translators) |url=https://archive.org/details/lesfauxamisoules00kssl |archive-url=https://archive.org/details/lesfauxamisoules00kssl/page/n7 |archive-date=July 9, 2013 |year=1928 |publisher=Vuibert |location=Paris |oclc=999745586 |access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref> with a sequel, {{Lang|fr|Autres Mots anglais perfides}}.
The origin of the term is as a shortened version of the expression 'false friend of a translator', the English translation of a French expression ({{langx|fr|faux amis du traducteur}}) introduced by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in their 1928 book,<ref name="Aronoff-2008">{{cite book|last1=Aronoff|first1=Mark|last2=Rees-Miller|first2=Janie|title=The Handbook of Linguistics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aFqB-R0MrgC&pg=PA698|access-date=21 December 2019|date=15 April 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=New York|isbn=978-0-470-75634-8|page=698|oclc=897574627}}, referring to {{cite book |language=fr |last1=Koessler |first1=Maxime |last2=Derocquigny |first2=Jules |title=Les faux amis: ou, Les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (conseils aux traducteurs)  |trans-title=False Friends, or the treacherous pitfalls of English vocabulary (advice for translators) |url=https://archive.org/details/lesfauxamisoules00kssl |archive-url=https://archive.org/details/lesfauxamisoules00kssl/page/n7 |archive-date=July 9, 2013 |year=1928 |publisher=Vuibert |location=Paris |oclc=999745586 |access-date=21 December 2019}}</ref> with a sequel, {{Lang|fr|Autres Mots anglais perfides}}.
Sister alphabets like [[Ukrainian alphabet#Letterforms_and_typography|Ukrainian]] Cyrillic have homographic false friend letters that misdirect pronunciation by visually matching heterophonic Latin letters in both its upright ⟨прямий, ''pryamyy''⟩ and in its italicized 'cursive' ⟨курсивний, ''kursyvnyy''⟩ or ⟨письмівка, ''pys’mivka''⟩ forms:
[[File:Ucraniano-Alfabeto-Manuscrito.svg|alt=Handwritten Ukrainian alphabet|420x420px|Ukrainian letters Г, Д, И, Й, М, Т, and Ц i]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=1 style="padding:0 .5em .2em; border:1px solid #999; margin:1em 0;"
|+ Visual false friend letters of Ukrainian
|-
! scope="row" | Upright form
|| в
|| г
|| д
|| и
|| і
|| л
|| н
|| п
|| р
|| с
|| т
|| у
|| х
|- style="font-family:Vollkorn,FreeSerif,Cambria,'Times New Roman','Nimbus Roman No9 L','Century Schoolbook L','Trebuchet MS','URW Bookman L','URW Chancery L','URW Palladio L',Teams,serif; font-size:large; text-align:center; " lang="uk"
!lang="en"| «Cursive»
|| ''В''
|| ''г''
|| ''д''
|| ''и''
|| ''І''
|| ''л''
|| ''н''
|| ''п''
|| ''р''
|| ''с''
|| ''т''
|| ''у''
|| ''х''
|-
! scope="row" | False „friend“
|| 𝐵
|| 𝚤
|| ℊ
|| 𝑢
|| 𝐽
|| 𝒾
|| 𝐻
|| 𝑛
|| 𝑝
|| 𝑐
|| 𝑚
|| 𝑦
|| 𝑥
|-
! scope="row" | True ⟨sound⟩
|| ''v''
|| ''h''
|| ''d''
|| ''y''
|| ''i''
|| ℓ
|| ''n''
|| ''p''
|| ''r''
|| ''s''
|| ''t''
|| ''u''
|| ''kh''
|-
! scope="row" | [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] /phone/
|| ʋ
|| ɦ
|| d
|| ɪ̈
|| i
|| l
|| n
|| p
|| r
|| s
|| t
|| u
|| x
|}
* Note: 'Cursive' г, д, and л tend to incorrectly display their non-Ukrainian variants on many platforms as an artifact of official linguistic prohibitions during Soviet digitization.


== Causes ==
== Causes ==
Line 24: Line 125:
=== Shared etymology ===
=== Shared etymology ===


[[File:Cerstve pecivo-slovakian.jpg|thumb|An example of a West Slavic shared etymology; in Czech and Slovak, {{Lang|cs|čerstvé pečivo}} means 'fresh baked goods', whereas in Polish, {{Lang|pl|czerstwe pieczywo}} means 'stale bread', while in Ukrainian, {{Lang|uk|черстве печиво}} ({{Transliteration|uk|čerstve pečyvo}}) means 'hardened cookie (bakery)', while in Russian, {{Transliteration|ru|chyorstvy}} means "stale" again]]
[[File:Cerstve pecivo-slovakian.jpg|thumb|An example of a West Slavic shared etymology. In Czech and Slovak, {{Lang|cs|čerstvé pečivo}} means 'fresh baked goods', in Polish, {{Lang|pl|czerstwe pieczywo}} means 'stale bread', in Ukrainian, {{Lang|uk|черстве печиво}} ({{Transliteration|uk|čerstve pečyvo}}) means 'hardened cookie (bakery)', and in Russian, {{Transliteration|ru|chyorstvy}} means "stale" again.]]


If language A borrowed a word from language B, or both borrowed the word from a third language or inherited it from a common ancestor, and later the word shifted in meaning or acquired additional meanings in at least one of these languages, a [[First language|native speaker]] of one language will face a false friend when learning the other. Sometimes, presumably both senses were present in the common ancestor language, but the cognate words took on different restricted senses in Language A and Language B.<ref name=trussel />
If language A borrowed a word from language B, or both borrowed the word from a third language or inherited it from a common ancestor, and later the word shifted in meaning or acquired additional meanings in at least one of these languages, a [[First language|native speaker]] of one language will face a false friend when learning the other. Sometimes, presumably both senses were present in the common ancestor language, but the cognate words took on different restricted senses in Language A and Language B.<ref name=trussel />
Line 60: Line 161:


====In native words====
====In native words====
The word ''friend'' itself has cognates in the other Germanic languages, but the Scandinavian ones (like [[Swedish language|Swedish]] {{Lang|sv|frände}}, [[Danish language|Danish]] {{Lang|da|frænde}}) predominantly mean 'relative'. The original [[Proto-Germanic]] word meant simply 'someone whom one cares for' and could therefore refer to both a friend and a relative, but it lost various degrees of the 'friend' sense in the Scandinavian languages, while it mostly lost the sense of 'relative' in English (the plural ''friends'' is still, rarely, used for "kinsfolk", as in the Scottish proverb ''Friends agree best at a distance'', quoted in 1721).
The word ''friend'' itself has cognates in the other Germanic languages, but the Scandinavian ones (like [[Swedish language|Swedish]] {{Lang|sv|frände}}, [[Danish language|Danish]] {{Lang|da|frænde}}) predominantly mean 'relative'. The original [[Proto-Germanic]] word meant simply 'someone whom one cares for' and could therefore refer to both a friend and a relative, but it lost various degrees of the 'friend' sense in the Scandinavian languages, while it mostly lost the sense of 'relative' in English (the plural ''friends'' is still, rarely, used for 'kinsfolk', as in the Scottish proverb ''Friends agree best at a distance'', quoted in 1721).


The [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[Finnish language]]s are related, which gives rise to false friends such as swapped forms for south and south-west:<ref name="Knospe-2016"/>
The [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[Finnish language]]s are related, which gives rise to false friends such as swapped forms for south and south-west:<ref name="Knospe-2016"/>
Line 81: Line 182:
!English
!English
|-
|-
|{{Lang|de|der See}}
|{{Lang|de|See}}
|''meer''
|''meer''
|mere 'lake'
|[[Mere (lake)|mere]] (lake)
|-
|-
|{{Lang|de|Meer}}
|{{Lang|de|Meer}}
Line 89: Line 190:
|sea
|sea
|}
|}
Note that ''die See'' means 'sea', and thus is not a false friend.
Note that the [[Low German]] ''die See'' means 'sea', and thus is not a false friend.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|+
Line 98: Line 199:
|{{Lang|de|mögen}}
|{{Lang|de|mögen}}
|{{Lang|nl|houden van}}
|{{Lang|nl|houden van}}
|like, love
|like
|-
|-
|{{Lang|de|dürfen}}
|{{Lang|de|dürfen}}
Line 115: Line 216:
{{Main|Homonym}}
{{Main|Homonym}}


In Swedish, the word {{Lang|sv|rolig}} means 'fun': {{Lang|sv|ett roligt skämt}} 'a funny joke', while in the closely related languages Danish and Norwegian it means 'calm' (as in "he was calm despite all the commotion around him"). However, the Swedish original meaning of 'calm' is retained in some related words such as {{Lang|sv|ro}} 'calmness', and {{Lang|sv|orolig}} 'worrisome, anxious', literally 'un-calm'.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |article=Orolig |date=1950 |title=Svenska Akademiens Ordbok |trans-title=The Swedish Academy's Dictionary |publisher=Swedish Academy |location=Lund |page=spalt O 1337 |volume=19 |url=http://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=orolig|access-date=8 May 2017|language=sv|quote=[fsv. oroliker; jfr dan. o. nor. urolig, nor. dial. uroleg, nyisl. órólegur (jfr isl. úróliga, adv.), mlt. unrouwelik, (ä.) t. unruhlich; av O- 1 o. ROLIG, lugn, delvis möjl. avledn. av ORO]}}</ref> The Danish and Norwegian word {{Lang|da|semester}} means term (as in school term), but the Swedish word {{Lang|sv|semester}} means holiday. The Danish word {{Lang|da|frokost}} means lunch, while the Norwegian word {{Lang|no|frokost}} and the Swedish word {{Lang|sv|frukost}} both mean breakfast.
In Swedish, the word {{Lang|sv|rolig}} means 'fun': {{Lang|sv|ett roligt skämt}} 'a funny joke', while in the closely related languages Danish and Norwegian it means 'calm' (as in 'he was calm despite all the commotion around him'). However, the Swedish original meaning of 'calm' is retained in some related words such as {{Lang|sv|ro}} 'calmness', and {{Lang|sv|orolig}} 'worrisome, anxious', literally 'un-calm'.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |article=Orolig |date=1950 |title=Svenska Akademiens Ordbok |trans-title=The Swedish Academy's Dictionary |publisher=Swedish Academy |location=Lund |page=spalt O 1337 |volume=19 |url=http://www.saob.se/artikel/?seek=orolig|access-date=8 May 2017|language=sv|quote=[fsv. oroliker; jfr dan. o. nor. urolig, nor. dial. uroleg, nyisl. órólegur (jfr isl. úróliga, adv.), mlt. unrouwelik, (ä.) t. unruhlich; av O- 1 o. ROLIG, lugn, delvis möjl. avledn. av ORO]}}</ref> The Danish and Norwegian word {{Lang|da|semester}} means term (as in school term), but the Swedish word {{Lang|sv|semester}} means holiday. The Danish word {{Lang|da|frokost}} means lunch, while the Norwegian word {{Lang|no|frokost}} and the Swedish word {{Lang|sv|frukost}} both mean breakfast.


=== Pseudo-anglicisms ===
=== Pseudo-anglicisms ===
Line 122: Line 223:
[[Pseudo-anglicism]]s are new words formed from English [[morpheme]]s independently from an analogous English construct and with a different intended meaning.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Onysko|first1=Alexander|title=Anglicisms in German: Borrowing, Lexical Productivity, and Written Codeswitching|date=2007|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|location=Berlin/New York|isbn=978-3-11-019946-8|pages=52–55}}</ref>
[[Pseudo-anglicism]]s are new words formed from English [[morpheme]]s independently from an analogous English construct and with a different intended meaning.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Onysko|first1=Alexander|title=Anglicisms in German: Borrowing, Lexical Productivity, and Written Codeswitching|date=2007|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|location=Berlin/New York|isbn=978-3-11-019946-8|pages=52–55}}</ref>


[[Japanese language|Japanese]] is notable for its pseudo-anglicisms, known as {{Transliteration|ja|hepburn|wasei-eigo}} ('Japan-made English').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ruzhenkova|first1=V.|last2=Platoshina|first2=V.V.|date=2011|title=False friends in converting a text from one script into another|url=http://dspace.bsu.edu.ru/handle/123456789/7513|journal=Experientia Est Optima Magistra: Collected Arts.|pages=126|via=Belgorod State University DSPACE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Laura|date=1997|title=Wasei eigo: English 'loanwords' coined in Japan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313008948|journal=The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright|pages=123–139|via=ResearchGate}}</ref>
[[Japanese language|Japanese]] is notable for its pseudo-anglicisms, known as ''[[wasei-eigo]]'' ('Japan-made English').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ruzhenkova|first1=V.|last2=Platoshina|first2=V.V.|date=2011|title=False friends in converting a text from one script into another|url=http://dspace.bsu.edu.ru/handle/123456789/7513|journal=Experientia Est Optima Magistra: Collected Arts.|pages=126|via=Belgorod State University DSPACE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Laura|date=1997|title=Wasei eigo: English 'loanwords' coined in Japan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313008948|journal=The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright|pages=123–139|via=ResearchGate}}</ref>


== Semantic change ==
== Semantic change ==
In bilingual situations, false friends often result in a [[semantic change]]—a real new meaning that is then commonly used in a language. For example, the Portuguese {{Lang|pt|humoroso}} ('capricious') changed its meaning in American Portuguese to 'humorous', owing to the English surface-cognate ''humorous''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unravellingmag.com/articles/semantic-false-friends/ |title=Semantic False Friends |publisher=Unravel |access-date=21 January 2025}}</ref>  
In bilingual situations, false friends often result in a [[semantic change]]—a real new meaning that is then commonly used in a language. For example, the Portuguese {{Lang|pt|humoroso}} ('capricious') changed its meaning in American Portuguese to 'humorous', owing to the English surface-cognate ''humorous''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unravellingmag.com/articles/semantic-false-friends/ |title=Semantic False Friends |publisher=Unravel |access-date=21 January 2025}}</ref>  


The [[Itanglese|American Italian]] {{Lang|it|fattoria}} lost its original meaning, "farm", in favor of "factory", owing to the phonetically similar surface-cognate English ''factory'' (cf. Standard Italian {{Lang|it|fabbrica}}, 'factory'). Instead of the original {{Lang|it|fattoria}}, the phonetic adaptation American Italian {{Lang|it|farma}} became the new signifier for "farm" (Weinreich 1963: 49; see "one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents").{{Full citation needed|date=February 2024}}
The [[Itanglese|American Italian]] {{Lang|it|fattoria}} lost its original meaning, 'farm', in favor of 'factory', owing to the phonetically similar surface-cognate English ''factory'' (cf. Standard Italian {{Lang|it|fabbrica}}, 'factory'). Instead of the original {{Lang|it|fattoria}}, the phonetic adaptation American Italian {{Lang|it|farma}} became the new signifier for 'farm' (Weinreich 1963: 49; see 'one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents').{{Full citation needed|date=February 2024}}


Due to the closeness between Italian {{Lang|it|terra rossa}} ('red soil') and Portuguese {{Lang|pt|terra roxa}} 'purple soil', [[Italian Brazilians|Italian farmers in Brazil]] used {{Lang|pt|terra roxa}} to describe a type of soil similar to the [[terra rossa|red Mediterranean soil]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Terra roxa: origens e como cuidar do solo vermelho |url=https://summitagro.estadao.com.br/noticias-do-campo/terra-roxa-origens-e-como-cuidar-do-solo-vermelho/ |website=Canal Agro Estadão |access-date=7 May 2023 |language=pt-BR |date=7 March 2022}}</ref> The actual Portuguese word for "red" is {{Lang|pt|vermelha}}. Nevertheless, ''{{Lang|pt|terra roxa}}'' and ''{{Lang|pt|terra vermelha}}'' are still used interchangeably in Brazilian agriculture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Conheça as características da terra roxa ou terra vermelha |url=https://www.canalrural.com.br/noticias/conheca-caracteristicas-terra-roxa-terra-vermelha-53932/ |website=Canal Rural |language=pt-BR |date=13 December 2014}}</ref>
Due to the closeness between Italian {{Lang|it|terra rossa}} ('red soil') and Portuguese {{Lang|pt|terra roxa}} 'purple soil', [[Italian Brazilians|Italian farmers in Brazil]] used {{Lang|pt|terra roxa}} to describe a type of soil similar to the [[terra rossa|red Mediterranean soil]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Terra roxa: origens e como cuidar do solo vermelho |url=https://summitagro.estadao.com.br/noticias-do-campo/terra-roxa-origens-e-como-cuidar-do-solo-vermelho/ |website=Canal Agro Estadão |access-date=7 May 2023 |language=pt-BR |date=7 March 2022}}</ref> The actual Portuguese word for 'red' is {{Lang|pt|vermelha}}. Nevertheless, ''{{Lang|pt|terra roxa}}'' and ''{{Lang|pt|terra vermelha}}'' are still used interchangeably in Brazilian agriculture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Conheça as características da terra roxa ou terra vermelha |url=https://www.canalrural.com.br/noticias/conheca-caracteristicas-terra-roxa-terra-vermelha-53932/ |website=Canal Rural |language=pt-BR |date=13 December 2014}}</ref>


[[Quebec French]] is also known for shifting the meanings of some words toward those of their English cognates, but such words are considered false friends in European French. For example, {{Lang|fr|éventuellement}} is commonly used as "eventually" in Quebec but means "perhaps" in Europe.
[[Quebec French]] is also known for shifting the meanings of some words toward those of their English cognates, but such words are considered false friends in European French. For example, {{Lang|fr|éventuellement}} is commonly used as 'eventually' in Quebec but means 'perhaps' in Europe.


This phenomenon is analyzed by [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] as "(incestuous) [[phono-semantic matching]]".<ref>{{cite book |page=102 |first=Ghil'ad |last=Zuckermann |year=2003 |url=http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?is=140391723X |title=Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew |publisher=Houndmills: [[Palgrave Macmillan]], (Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language Change, Series editor: Charles Jones) |isbn=978-1-4039-1723-2 |access-date=2008-09-17 |archive-date=2014-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201235515/http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?is=140391723X |url-status=dead }}</ref>
This phenomenon is analyzed by [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] as '(incestuous) [[phono-semantic matching]]'.<ref>{{cite book |page=102 |first=Ghil'ad |last=Zuckermann |year=2003 |url=http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?is=140391723X |title=Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew |publisher=Houndmills: [[Palgrave Macmillan]], (Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language Change, Series editor: Charles Jones) |isbn=978-1-4039-1723-2 |access-date=2008-09-17 |archive-date=2014-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201235515/http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?is=140391723X |url-status=dead }}</ref>


== See also ==
== See also ==

Latest revision as of 06:44, 30 May 2026

Not to be confused with False cognate.
"False Friends" redirects here. For the TV episode, see False Friends (Homeland).
For people who falsely appear to be friends, see Frenemy and False flag.

TemplateStyles' src attribute must not be empty.

File:False friends, who and where.svg
An example of false friends in German and English

Template:Linguistics In linguistics, a false friend is a word or letter[1][2] in a different language that looks or sounds similar to a word in a given language, but differs significantly in meaning. Examples of false friends include English embarrassed and Spanish embarazada ('pregnant'); English parents versus Portuguese parentes and Italian parenti (the latter two both meaning 'relatives'); English demand and French demander ('ask'); and English gift, German Gift ('poison'), and Norwegian gift (both 'married' and 'poison').

The term was introduced by a French book, Les Faux Amis : ou, Les Trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (False friends: or, the betrayals of English vocabulary), published in 1928.

As well as producing completely false friends, the use of loanwords often results in the use of a word in a restricted context, which may then develop new meanings not found in the original language. For example, Angst means 'fear' in a general sense (as well as 'anxiety') in German, but when it was borrowed into English in the context of psychology, its meaning was restricted to a particular type of fear described as "a neurotic feeling of anxiety and depression".[3] Also, gymnasium meant both 'a place of education' and 'a place for exercise' in Latin, but its meaning became restricted to the former in German and to the latter in English, making the expressions into false friends in those languages as well as in Ancient Greek, where it started out as 'a place for naked exercise'.[4]

Definition and origin

False friend words are bilingual homophones or bilingual homographs,[5] i.e., words in two or more languages that look similar (homographs) or sound similar (homophones), but differ significantly in meaning.[5][6] False friend letters are homographic graphemes (written characters) that differ significantly in pronunciation.

The origin of the term is as a shortened version of the expression 'false friend of a translator', the English translation of a French expression (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) introduced by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in their 1928 book,[7] with a sequel, Autres Mots anglais perfides.

Sister alphabets like Ukrainian Cyrillic have homographic false friend letters that misdirect pronunciation by visually matching heterophonic Latin letters in both its upright ⟨прямий, pryamyy⟩ and in its italicized 'cursive' ⟨курсивний, kursyvnyy⟩ or ⟨письмівка, pys’mivka⟩ forms: Handwritten Ukrainian alphabet

Visual false friend letters of Ukrainian
 Upright form в г д и і л н п р с т у х
«Cursive» В г д и І л н п р с т у х
False „friend“  𝐵  𝚤 ℊ 𝑢 𝐽 𝒾 𝐻 𝑛 𝑝 𝑐 𝑚 𝑦 𝑥
 True ⟨sound⟩ v h d y i ℓ n p r s t u kh
 IPA /phone/ ʋ ɦ d ɪ̈ i l n p r s t u x
  • Note: 'Cursive' г, д, and л tend to incorrectly display their non-Ukrainian variants on many platforms as an artifact of official linguistic prohibitions during Soviet digitization.

Causes

From the etymological point of view, false friends can be created in several ways.

Shared etymology

File:Cerstve pecivo-slovakian.jpg
An example of a West Slavic shared etymology. In Czech and Slovak, čerstvé pečivo means 'fresh baked goods', in Polish, czerstwe pieczywo means 'stale bread', in Ukrainian, черстве печиво (Template:Transliteration) means 'hardened cookie (bakery)', and in Russian, Template:Transliteration means "stale" again.

If language A borrowed a word from language B, or both borrowed the word from a third language or inherited it from a common ancestor, and later the word shifted in meaning or acquired additional meanings in at least one of these languages, a native speaker of one language will face a false friend when learning the other. Sometimes, presumably both senses were present in the common ancestor language, but the cognate words took on different restricted senses in Language A and Language B.[8]

In loanwords

Actual, which in English is usually a synonym of real, has a different meaning in other European languages, in which it means 'current' or 'up-to-date', and has the logical derivative as a verb, meaning 'to make current' or 'to update'. Actualise (or actualize) in English means 'to make a reality of'.[9]

The Italian word confetti ('sugared almonds') has acquired a new meaning in English, French and Dutch; in Italian, the corresponding word is coriandoli.[10]

English and Spanish, both of which have borrowed from Ancient Greek and Latin, have multiple false friends, such as:

English Spanish translation Spanish English translation
actually en realidad actualmente currently
advertisement publicidad advertencia warning
bizarre extraño bizarro brave

English and Japanese also have diverse false friends, many of them being Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration words.[11]

In native words

The word friend itself has cognates in the other Germanic languages, but the Scandinavian ones (like Swedish frände, Danish frænde) predominantly mean 'relative'. The original Proto-Germanic word meant simply 'someone whom one cares for' and could therefore refer to both a friend and a relative, but it lost various degrees of the 'friend' sense in the Scandinavian languages, while it mostly lost the sense of 'relative' in English (the plural friends is still, rarely, used for 'kinsfolk', as in the Scottish proverb Friends agree best at a distance, quoted in 1721).

The Estonian and Finnish languages are related, which gives rise to false friends such as swapped forms for south and south-west:[6]

Estonian Finnish English
lõuna etelä south
edel lounas south-west

Or Estonian vaim ('spirit' or 'ghost') and Finnish vaimo ('wife');[5] or Estonian koristaja ('a cleaner') and Finnish koristaja ('a decorator').

A high level of lexical similarity exists between German and Dutch,[12] but shifts in meaning of words with a shared etymology have in some instances resulted in 'bi-directional false friends':[13][14]

German Dutch English
See meer mere (lake)
Meer zee sea

Note that the Low German die See means 'sea', and thus is not a false friend.[citation needed]

German Dutch English
mögen houden van like
dürfen mogen be allowed to
wagen durven dare

The meanings could diverge significantly. For example, the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word *qayam ('domesticated animal') became specialized in descendant languages: Malay/Indonesian ayam ('chicken'), Cebuano ayam ('dog'), and Gaddang ayam ('pig').[8]

Homonyms

Main article: Homonym

In Swedish, the word rolig means 'fun': ett roligt skämt 'a funny joke', while in the closely related languages Danish and Norwegian it means 'calm' (as in 'he was calm despite all the commotion around him'). However, the Swedish original meaning of 'calm' is retained in some related words such as ro 'calmness', and orolig 'worrisome, anxious', literally 'un-calm'.[15] The Danish and Norwegian word semester means term (as in school term), but the Swedish word semester means holiday. The Danish word frokost means lunch, while the Norwegian word frokost and the Swedish word frukost both mean breakfast.

Pseudo-anglicisms

Main article: Pseudo-anglicism

Pseudo-anglicisms are new words formed from English morphemes independently from an analogous English construct and with a different intended meaning.[16]

Japanese is notable for its pseudo-anglicisms, known as wasei-eigo ('Japan-made English').[17][18]

Semantic change

In bilingual situations, false friends often result in a semantic change—a real new meaning that is then commonly used in a language. For example, the Portuguese humoroso ('capricious') changed its meaning in American Portuguese to 'humorous', owing to the English surface-cognate humorous.[19]

The American Italian fattoria lost its original meaning, 'farm', in favor of 'factory', owing to the phonetically similar surface-cognate English factory (cf. Standard Italian fabbrica, 'factory'). Instead of the original fattoria, the phonetic adaptation American Italian farma became the new signifier for 'farm' (Weinreich 1963: 49; see 'one-to-one correlation between signifiers and referents').[full citation needed]

Due to the closeness between Italian terra rossa ('red soil') and Portuguese terra roxa 'purple soil', Italian farmers in Brazil used terra roxa to describe a type of soil similar to the red Mediterranean soil.[20] The actual Portuguese word for 'red' is vermelha. Nevertheless, terra roxa and terra vermelha are still used interchangeably in Brazilian agriculture.[21]

Quebec French is also known for shifting the meanings of some words toward those of their English cognates, but such words are considered false friends in European French. For example, éventuellement is commonly used as 'eventually' in Quebec but means 'perhaps' in Europe.

This phenomenon is analyzed by Ghil'ad Zuckermann as '(incestuous) phono-semantic matching'.[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Daria (2018-09-28). "Lesson Number 2. The Russian Alphabet. False Friends". russianteacherglasgow.com. GB‐GLG: "RUSSIAN ABOUT": Russian Language Tutor in Glasgow. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  2. ↑ Round, Jeremy (2019-09-20). "Sanctions Screening for Russian False Friends". sqa-consulting.com. GB: SQA Consulting. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
  3. ↑ "German Loan Words in English". About.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  4. ↑ "Online Etymology Dictionary". etymonline.com. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Korpela, Jukka K. (12 August 2014). Introduction to Finnish. Helsinki: Suomen E-painos Oy. p. 35. ISBN 978-952-6613-26-0. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Knospe, Sebastian; Onysko, Alexander; Goth, Maik (26 September 2016). Crossing Languages to Play with Words: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 116. ISBN 978-3-11-046560-0. OCLC 954201320. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  7. ↑ Aronoff, Mark; Rees-Miller, Janie (15 April 2008). The Handbook of Linguistics. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 698. ISBN 978-0-470-75634-8. OCLC 897574627. Retrieved 21 December 2019., referring to Koessler, Maxime; Derocquigny, Jules (1928). Les faux amis: ou, Les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (conseils aux traducteurs) [False Friends, or the treacherous pitfalls of English vocabulary (advice for translators)] (in French). Paris: Vuibert. OCLC 999745586. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Austronesian Comparative Dictionary
  9. ↑ Mollin, Sandra (2006), Euro-English: assessing variety status, Gunter Narr Verlag, ISBN 9783823362500
  10. ↑ "Confetto in Enciclopedia Treccani". Treccani.it. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
  11. ↑ Johnson, Chalmers (1980). "Omote (Explicit) and Ura (Implicit): Translating Japanese Political Terms". Journal of Japanese Studies. 6 (1): 89–115. doi:10.2307/132001. JSTOR 132001.
  12. ↑ "German and Dutch: similar or different?". Language Tsar. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  13. ↑ "valse vrienden – Falsche Freunde". uitmuntend.de (in Dutch and German). Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  14. ↑ "dürfen / müssen / sollen / mögen". nubeterduits.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  15. ↑ "Orolig". Svenska Akademiens Ordbok [The Swedish Academy's Dictionary] (in Swedish). 19. Lund: Swedish Academy. 1950. p. spalt O 1337. Retrieved 8 May 2017. [fsv. oroliker; jfr dan. o. nor. urolig, nor. dial. uroleg, nyisl. órólegur (jfr isl. úróliga, adv.), mlt. unrouwelik, (ä.) t. unruhlich; av O- 1 o. ROLIG, lugn, delvis möjl. avledn. av ORO]
  16. ↑ Onysko, Alexander (2007). Anglicisms in German: Borrowing, Lexical Productivity, and Written Codeswitching. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 52–55. ISBN 978-3-11-019946-8.
  17. ↑ Ruzhenkova, V.; Platoshina, V.V. (2011). "False friends in converting a text from one script into another". Experientia Est Optima Magistra: Collected Arts.: 126 – via Belgorod State University DSPACE.
  18. ↑ Miller, Laura (1997). "Wasei eigo: English 'loanwords' coined in Japan". The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright: 123–139 – via ResearchGate.
  19. ↑ "Semantic False Friends". Unravel. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
  20. ↑ "Terra roxa: origens e como cuidar do solo vermelho". Canal Agro Estadão (in Portuguese). 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  21. ↑ "Conheça as características da terra roxa ou terra vermelha". Canal Rural (in Portuguese). 13 December 2014.
  22. ↑ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, (Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language Change, Series editor: Charles Jones). p. 102. ISBN 978-1-4039-1723-2. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
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