"false, untrue" in seven languages
Meaningfalse, untrue
Spanish
falso
/ˈfalso/
inherited
French
faux
/fo/
inherited
fem.: fausse
Italian
falso
/ˈfalso/
inherited
Portuguese
falso
/ˈfawsu/
inherited
Romanian
fals
/fals/
learned
Catalan
fals
/fals/
inherited
English
false
/fɔls/
from Latin/French · Latin falsus, partly through Old French
English → Italianfalse, untruefalsoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
FALSUM‘deceived, untrue’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
French turned the l into u (faux), the same change that made ALTERUM into autre; the feminine fausse still shows the s. FALSUS is the participle of FALLERE 'to deceive', also behind fallacy.
English relatives: falsify, fallacy, fault
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- es¿Es verdadero o falso?
- frC'est vrai ou faux ?
- itÈ vero o falso?
- ptÉ verdadeiro ou falso?
- roE adevărat sau fals?
- caÉs vertader o fals?
- enIs it true or false?
More words from the same Latin
More in Describing words
- incredibleincreíbleincroyableincredibileincrívelincredibilincreïble
- obviousobvioévidentovvioóbvioevidentobvi
- minor (small, unimportant)menormineurminoremenorminormenor
- oppositeopuestoopposéoppostoopostoopusoposat
- tinyminúsculominusculeminuscolominúsculominusculminúscul
- bright (full of light)luminosolumineuxluminosoluminosoluminoslluminós