false cognate

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Noun 1.1.1 Usage notes 1.2 See also

[edit] English

Wikipedia

[edit] Noun

false cognate (plural false cognates)

1. A word that appears to be cognate to – that is, to have a shared linguistic origin with – a given word, but that is in fact unrelated.
2. A false friend, a word that appears to have the same meaning as a given word, but that does not.

[edit] Usage notes

• Some speakers consider the usage of false cognate to mean false friend to be incorrect.
• Examples of false cognates:
  • Many completely unrelated languages use some variant of ma for "mother".
  • English have (and the related German verb haben) and Latin habere are thought to be false cognates — have is more likely cognate to capere.
  • French attendre and English attend are indeed cognates (they have a shared root), but they are false friends (they have different meanings), thus, they are only false cognates in the second sense.

[edit] See also

• false friend