false friend

[ fawls-frend ]

nounLinguistics.

a word in one language that is similar in form or sound to a word in another language but has a different meaning and may or may not be etymologically related: for example, English gift “present” and German Gift “poison” are false friends.

Origin of false friend

First recorded in 1930–35; patterned after French faux ami in same sense

confusables note For false friend

See false cognate.

Words that may be confused with false friend

false cognate, false friend (see confusables note at false cognate)

Words Nearby false friend

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use false friend in a sentence

Indeed, Obama said he was telling Israelis these things because he is a good friend and not a false friend.
Obama to Israel: Ball’s in Your Court | Eli Lake | March 21, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
The man is my deadly enemy, and, as you know now at last, but a false friend to you!
A German Pompadour | Marie Hay
Nothing but the story of a faithless love and a false friend and the loss of trust in all things human or divine.
How to be Happy Though Married | E. J. Hardy.
Dick (in the tones of a man whose whole life has been blighted by the machinations of a false friend).
Happy Days | Alan Alexander Milne
Alderman Wood, however, we are sorry to say, was not the only false friend her majesty had to lament.
Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume II (of 2) | Lady Anne Hamilton

So farewell, false friend, till such near time as your ehrwrdig person decorate our hearth at Mrs. Hanks's in Harvard St.
The Letters of William James, Vol. 1 | William James

British Dictionary definitions for false friend

false friend

noun

a word or expression in one language that, because it resembles one in another language, is often wrongly taken to have the same meaning, for example, the French agenda which means diary, not agenda

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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