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Meaning of "false friend" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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PRONUNCIATION OF FALSE FRIEND

false friend play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF FALSE FRIEND

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
False friend is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES FALSE FRIEND MEAN IN ENGLISH?

False friend

False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning. An example is the English embarrassed and the Spanish embarazada, which actually means pregnant. Often, there is a partial overlap in meanings, which creates additional complications: e.g. Spanish lima, meaning 'lime' and 'collar beam', but also 'file'. Only when lima is used to mean the fruit does it become an accurate translation. Most difficult of all is the case of an overlap in meaning that does not catch all the nuances of each word—for instance, the French demande simply means a 'request', which is similar to a 'demand' in English and 'demandar' in Spanish but carries significant differences, as well. The term should be distinguished from "false cognates", which are similar words in different languages that appear to have a common historical linguistic origin but actually do not. As well as complete false friends, 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.

Definition of false friend in the English dictionary

The definition of false friend in the dictionary is 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.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE FALSE FRIEND

false bedding
false beginner
false bulrush
false cirrus
false colour
false colours
false dawn
false diamond
false economy
false fruit
false gavial
false goldenrod
false imprisonment
false joint
false keel
false memory syndrome
false move
false negative
false oxlip

WORDS THAT END LIKE FALSE FRIEND

befriend
best friend
bosom friend
boyfriend
defriend
fair-weather friend
family friend
fiend
four-legged friend
friend
furry friend
girlfriend
lady friend
litigation friend
next friend
pen friend
personal friend
school friend
unfriend
woman friend

Synonyms and antonyms of false friend in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «false friend» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF FALSE FRIEND

Find out the translation of false friend to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of false friend from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «false friend» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

虚假的朋友
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

falso amigo
570 millions of speakers

English

false friend
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

झूठे दोस्त
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

صديق زائف
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

ложный друг
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

falso amigo
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

মিথ্যা বন্ধু
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

faux ami
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Kawan palsu
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

falscher Freund
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

偽りの友
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

거짓 친구
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Kanca palsu
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

bạn sai
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

தவறான நண்பர்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

खोटे मित्र
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

yanlış arkadaş
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

falso amico
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

fałszywy przyjaciel
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

помилковий друг
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

Prietenul fals
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ψευδείς φίλο
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

valse vriend
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

falsk vän
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

falsk venn
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of false friend

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «FALSE FRIEND»

The term «false friend» is normally little used and occupies the 113.001 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
47
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «false friend» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of false friend
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «false friend».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «FALSE FRIEND» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «false friend» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «false friend» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about false friend

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «FALSE FRIEND»

Discover the use of false friend in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to false friend and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The False Friend
Twenty years after her best friend and rival Djuna disappeared under circumstances Celia has only recently remembered, Celia unconsciously sabotages a relationship and returns to her hometown to confess her role in what happened.
Myla Goldberg, 2011
2
The false friend. The country house. The confederacy. The ...
A collation of the plays puts it beyond doubt that Vanbrugh's comedy was translated from the French of Le Sage: The False Friend is, in general, closely imitated from Le Traitre Pam', and in many places the translation is absolutely literal.
Sir John Vanbrugh, William C. Ward, 1893
3
The False Friend: a Tale of the Times
their chilly reception of so kind and considerate a friend. “ I know it is you that has bitten Mary, mother,” he said, “ and situated as I now am, and am likely to be, I don't think I can afford to throw away a friend, because some crotchet or other ...
4
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
... results in more money being wasted than being saved: Buying cheap white goods is just a false economy - they 're twice as likely to break down. .false 'friend noun [C] a word which is often confused with a word in another language because ...
‎2008
5
False Friends: False Friend, Embarazada, Pseudo-Anglicism, ...
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.
Source Wikipedia, Books Llc, 2010
6
Concise Encyclopedia of Semantics
The English noun injury is another perfect example of a partial false friend with regard to Spanish injuria, Portuguese inju ́ria, and French injure. Injury, injuria, inju ́ria, and injure are rooted in Latin injuria 'offence, injustice.' Spanish ...
Keith Allan, 2010
7
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Code Switching
Number of words that are code switched, number of words that are not code switched, and percentage of words that are code switched, split by words that follow a false friend and words that do not border on a false friend or on a trigger word In ...
Ludmila Isurin, Donald Winford, Kees De Bot, 2009
8
The False Friend, Or the Fate of Disobedience a Tragedy, as ...
This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher.
Mary Pix, 2011
9
The Craft of Translation
John Biguenet, Rainer Schulte. surest," which is simply not its modern meaning. ( A false friend is a false friend is a false friend.) Further, the poet says that the traitor was tried (pronounced something like "tree-ed" but having the modern ...
John Biguenet, Rainer Schulte, 1989
10
St. Nicholas
When he came into the pueblo, all the famishing people came out to welcome him. And soon came the false friend, making as if he had never bewitched him nor had known whither he disappeared. » I ,5 ".4 0., _L) In a few days the false friend ...

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «FALSE FRIEND»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term false friend is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Corretta alimentazione: i 5 errori che tutti fanno (anche i più attenti)
Il problema è che la soia è più, sempre per metterla sull'inglese, un false friend. Se se ne assume troppa (dove “troppa” consiste in 4 cucchiai ... «Vogue.it, Jul 15»
2
Judge blasts detective, suppresses statements in rape case
In addition to misrepresenting the evidence, the judge said Butcher employed a "false friend" tactic with Shumway, seeking to create rapport ... «KSL.com, Jun 15»
3
Murphy's Law Strikes Ore. Arsonist
... Portland's Pal's Shanty Tavern, Marcus Tyler used alcohol, drugs and "advice from a false friend" to recoup the money he felt he was owed. «Firehouse.com, Jun 15»
4
Cook who burned himself while trying to torch Pal's Shanty gets …
... Portland's Pal's Shanty Tavern, Marcus Tyler used alcohol, drugs and "advice from a false friend" to recoup the money he felt he was owed. «OregonLive.com, Jun 15»
5
Your mate might share his sandwich but not his heart
The problem with such a reflex is the false friend. Cop and cope, say, can make you believe in bloodlines that don't exist. Purple and puce may ... «Sydney Morning Herald, Jun 15»
6
The Taking Tree: A Feminist Parody of Shel Silverstein's Classic
"You're a false friend." "No, please don't be like that." "Who is this partner of yours, anyway? What, aren't I good enough for you? You've never ... «Huffington Post, Jun 15»
7
E-Cigarettes Cause Dependence Just Like Tobacco
The nicotine patches seems to fall under the same category as a “false friend”, as things happen the same in their case a well, namely addicts ... «Capitalberg, Jun 15»
8
Tom Cleverley: Everton's not so free man
So, the illusion that Cleverley would be joining for free is a bit of a false friend, although admittedly the fee probably wouldn't have been too ... «7500 To Holte, Jun 15»
9
U-Va. community crowd-sourcing funds for dean's possible Rolling …
In her April letter, Eramo wrote that she was offended that the magazine “cast me as an unsympathetic and manipulative false friend to sexual ... «Washington Post, May 15»
10
How the Internet Reacted to the UVA Dean's Letter to Rolling Stone
“Adding insult to injury, your attorneys said that the article's portrayal of me — which cast me as an unsympathetic and manipulative false friend ... «DC Inno, Apr 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. False friend [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/false-friend>. Apr 2024 ».
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