Etymology

mischaracterize

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Today it means: To characterize falsely or mistakenly. Full definition →

English characterize ← Medieval Latin charactērizō ← Ancient Greek χᾰρακτηρίζω (khăraktērízō)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Ancient Greekχαράσσω (kharássō)
  10. Ancient Greekχαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)
  11. Ancient Greekχᾰρακτηρίζω (khăraktērízō)
  12. Medieval Latincharactērizō
  13. Englishcharacterize
  14. English todaymischaracterize

From mis- + characterize.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.