false

The story

1. Latin · derived fromfalsō“falsify”
2. Old French · derived fromfalser
3. Middle English · inherited fromfalsen
4. Latin · derived fromfalsus“counterfeit, false; falsehood”
5. Old English · inherited fromfals“false; counterfeit; fraudulent; wrong; mistaken”
6. Middle English · inherited fromfalse
7. English todayfalse

From Middle English false, fals, from Old English fals (“false; counterfeit; fraudulent; wrong; mistaken”), from Latin falsus (“counterfeit, false; falsehood”), perfect passive participle of fallō (“deceive”). Reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman and Old French fals, faus. Compare Scots fals, false, Saterland Frisian falsk, German falsch, Dutch vals, Swedish and Danish falsk; all from Latin falsus. Displaced native Middle English les, lese, from Old English lēas (“false”); See lease, leasing. Doublet of faux. The verb is from Middle English falsen, falsien, from Old French falser, from Latin falsō (“falsify”), itself also from falsus; compare French fausser (“to falsify, to distort”).

Words from the same roots