mistake

English

Etymology

Middle English, from Old Norse mistaka (“to take in error, to miscarry”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈteɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪk

Noun

mistake (plural mistakes)

1. An error; a blunder.
   • 1877, Henry Heth, quoting Robert E. Lee, in "Causes of the Defeat of Gen. Lee's Army at the Battle of GettysburgOpinions of Leading Confederate Soldiers.", Southern Historical Society Papers (1877), editor Rev. J. WM. Jones [1]

     After it is all over, as stupid a fellow as I am can see that mistakes were made. I notice, however, that my mistakes are never told me until it is too late.

2. (baseball) A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard to hit location, but instead ends up in an easy to hit place

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:error

Usage notes

• Usually make a mistake. See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Translations

an error (1)

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: خطأ f (xaṭaʾ), غلطة f (ġálṭa)
• Armenian: սխալ (sxal)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Azeri: səhv, xəta (az), yanlış
• Bashkir: хата (xata)
• Belarusian: памылка f (pamýlka)
• Bulgarian: грешка (bg) f (gréška)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 錯誤 (zh), 错误 (zh) (cuòwù), 錯 (zh), 错 (zh) (cuò), 誤 (zh), 误 (zh) (wù)

• Czech: chyba (cs) f
• Danish: fejl c
• Dutch: fout (nl) f, misverstand (nl) n, blunder (nl) m, vergissing (nl) f, onjuistheid f
• Esperanto: eraro
• Estonian: viga
• Faroese: mistak n, villa f
• Finnish: virhe (fi), moka (fi) (colloquial), kämmi (colloquial), fiba (fi) (slang)
• French: faute (fr) f, erreur (fr) f
• Georgian: შეცდომა (šec’doma)
• German: Fehler (de) m
• Greek: λάθος (el) n (láthos), σφάλμα (el) n (sfálma)
• Hebrew: טעות f (ta'út), שגיאה (he) f, שגגה f
• Hindi: ग़लती f (ġalatī), भूल f (bhūl), ग़लत फ़हमी f (ġalat fahmī), चूक (chūk)
• Hungarian: hiba (hu)
• Indonesian: kesalahan, kekeliruan
• Interlingua: error
• Irish: botún m
• Italian: errore (it) m, sbaglio (it) m
• Japanese: 間違い (ja) (まちがい, machigai), 過ち (あやまち, ayamachi), 誤り (あやまり, ayamari), 錯誤 (ja) (さくご, sakugo), ミス (ja) (misu), エラー (erā)
• Khmer: កំហុស (km) (kɑmhoh)
• Korean: 잘못 (ko) (jalmot), 착각 (ko) (chakgak) (錯覺 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: غه‌له‌ت (ku)

• Lakota: wóglušna c
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: error m
• Latvian: kļūda f
• Lithuanian: klaida (lt) f
• Macedonian: грешка f (gréška)
• Maltese: please add this translation if you can
• Marathi: चूक (čūk)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: feil (no) m, tabbe m

  Nynorsk: feil (no) m

• Persian: اشتباه (fa) (eštebâh)
• Polish: pomyłka (pl) f, błąd (pl) m
• Portuguese: erro (pt) m, engano (pt) m, equívoco (pt) m
• Romanian: greșeală (ro) f, eroare (ro) f
• Russian: ошибка (ru) f (ošíbka)
• Sanskrit: अशुद्धि f (ashuddhi), त्रुटि (truṭi)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: грешка f, грјешка f, грешка f, погрјешка f

  Roman: greška f, grješka f, pogreška f, pogrješka f

• Slovak: chyba f
• Slovene: napaka (sl) f, zmota f
• Spanish: error (es) m, equivocación (es) f
• Swedish: fel (sv) n, miss (sv) c, misstag (sv) n
• Tajik: иштибоҳ (ištiboh)
• Tamil: பிழை (ta) (piḻai)
• Telugu: పొరపాటు (te) (porapaaTu)
• Thai: ข้อผิดพลาด (kôr-pìt-plâat), ความผิดพลาด (kwaam-pìt-plâat)
• Tibetan: ནོར་འཁྲུལ (nor 'khrul)
• Turkish: hata (tr), yanlış (tr)
• Ukrainian: помилка (uk) (pomýlka)
• Urdu: غلط m (ġalat), غلطی f (ġalatī), غلط فہمی f (ġalat fahmī), بھول f (bhūl)
• Vietnamese: lỗi (vi)

Verb

mistake (third-person singular simple present mistakes, present participle mistaking, simple past mistook, past participle mistaken)

1. (transitive) To understand wrongly, taking one thing for another, or someone for someone else.

   Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.

   • Shakespeare

     My father's purposes have been mistook.

   • Johnson

     A man may mistake the love of virtue for the practice of it.

2. (intransitive) To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.
   • Jonathan Swift

     Servants mistake, and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.

3. (obsolete, rare) To take or choose wrongly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Derived terms

• mistakeless

Translations

To take one thing for another

• Arabic: اساء الفهم (’asá’ al-fáhem), أخطأ ('akhTa'a)
• Armenian: խառնել (xaṙnel), շփոթել (špʿotʿel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 誤會, 误会 (zh) (wùhuì), 弄錯, 弄错 (zh) (nòngcuò), 錯認, 错认 (zh) (cuòrèn)

• Czech: zaměnit
• Danish: misforstå (da)
• Dutch: misverstaan, verwisselen (nl)
• Esperanto: malinterpreti
• Finnish: ymmärtää väärin; (to mistake sb for sth) luulla
• French: méprendre (fr), confondre (fr) (avec), faire erreur (fr)
• German: verwechseln (de)
• Hindi: ग़लत समझना (ġalat samajhnā)
• Hungarian: félreért (hu)
• Indonesian: salah paham
• Irish: déan dearmad, déan earráid
• Italian: fraintendere, confondere (it)
• Japanese: 勘違いする (かんちがいする, kanchigai suru), 誤解する (ごかいする, gokai suru)

• Khmer: ច្រឡំ (km) (crɑlɑm)
• Korean: 오해하다 (ko) (ohaehada)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: به‌غه‌له‌ت

• Latin: fallor, fallo
• Malay: salah faham
• Norwegian: misforstå (no)
• Polish: pomylić (pl)
• Portuguese: confundir-se
• Russian: неправильно понимать (neprávil’no ponimát’), принимать (ru) (prinimát') (кого-л. за другого, что-л. за другое)
• Serbo-Croatian: pogrijéšiti
• Spanish: entender mal
• Swedish: missförstå (sv), missta (sv)
• Turkish: yanlış anlamak
• Urdu: غلط سمجھنا (ġalat samajhnā)
• Vietnamese: nhầm lẫn (vi)

To make an error

• Armenian: սխալվել (sxalvel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 誤會, 误会 (zh) (wùhuì), 誤解 (zh), 误解 (zh) (wùjiě)

• Dutch: een fout maken, in de fout gaan
• Finnish: tehdä virhe
• French: se tromper (fr),
• Greek: κάνω λάθος (káno láthos), σφάλλω (el) (sfállo)
• Hindi: ग़लत करना (ġalat karnā)
• Irish: déan dearmad, déan earráid
• Italian: sbagliare (it)
• Khmer: ច្រឡំ (km) (crɑlɑm)
• Korean: 실수하다 (ko) (silsuhada)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: غه‌له‌ت کردن

• Latin: fallor, erro (la)
• Norwegian: ta feil
• Polish: pomylić się (pl)
• Portuguese: errar (pt), equivocar-se, enganar-se
• Romanian: greși (ro)
• Russian: ошибаться (ru) impf (ošibát'sja), ошибиться (ru) pf (ošibít'sja)
• Serbo-Croatian: pogrijéšiti
• Swahili: kosa (sw)
• Swedish: missta (sv), begå (sv) ett misstag (sv) n (commit a mistake)
• Turkish: yanlış yapmak, hata yapmak, hata etmek
• Urdu: غلط کرنا (ġalat karnā)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: erari
• Indonesian: salah paham, salah mengerti
• Interlingua: comprender mal, intender mal, confunder
• Japanese: 勘違いする (かんちがいする, kanchigai-suru)
• Portuguese: entender mal, confundir
• Slovene: zmotiti se
• Spanish: confundir
• Telugu: పొరబడు (porabaDu)

Related terms

• mistaken
• mythtaken