Phrase guide

false friend

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌfɒls ˈfɹɛnd/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌfɔːls ˈfɹɛnd/
  • General-American: /ˌfɔls ˈfɹɛnd/ without the cot–caught merger
  • Atlantic-Canada, General-American, cot-caught-merger: /ˌfɑls ˈfɹɛnd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˌfoːls ˈfɹend/
  • Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A word in a language that bears a deceptive resemblance to a word in another language but in fact has a different meaning.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, lexicography, linguistics, sciences, translation-studies

Examples

  • A word and its false friend may well be etymologically related: in such cases semantic shifts have made them drift apart.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: faux ami, false cousin

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see false, friend.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of French faux-ami, from the longer phrase faux amis du traducteur (“false friends of a translator”), first used by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in 1928 in their book Les Faux Amis ou les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (False Friends, or the Pitfalls of the English Vocabulary).

Across languages

Translations

68 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: miku i rremë — type of word
  • Arabic: شِبْه نَظِير (šibh naẓīr) — type of word
  • Armenian: սուտ բարեկամ (sut barekam) — type of word
  • Belarusian: памылко́вы ся́бар (pamylkóvy sjábar) — type of word
  • Belarusian: фальшы́вы ся́бар (falʹšývy sjábar) — type of word
  • Bulgarian: фалши́в прия́тел (falšív prijátel) — type of word
  • Catalan: fals amic — type of word
  • Chinese Mandarin: 偽友 /伪友 (wěiyǒu) — type of word
  • Chinese Mandarin: 假友 (jiǎyǒu) — type of word
  • Chinese Mandarin: 假等義 /假等义 (jiǎděngyì) — type of word
  • Chinese Mandarin: 假朋友 (jiǎpéngyǒu) — type of word
  • Chinese Mandarin: 同形异义词 (tóxíngyìyìcí) — type of word
  • Czech: falešný přítel — type of word
  • Danish: falsk ven — type of word
  • Dutch: valse vriend — type of word
  • Esperanto: falsa amiko — type of word
  • Estonian: virvasõna — type of word
  • Finnish: riskisana — type of word
  • French: faux-ami — type of word
  • Galician: falso amigo — type of word
  • Georgian: ცრუ მეგობარი (cru megobari) — type of word
  • German: falscher Freund — type of word
  • German: Übersetzungsfalle — type of word
  • Greek: ψευδόφιλος (psevdófilos) — type of word
  • Hindi: झूठा दोस्त (jhūṭhā dost) — type of word
  • Hungarian: hamis barát — type of word
  • Hungarian: álbarát — type of word
  • Icelandic: falsvinur — type of word
  • Icelandic: svikatengsl — type of word
  • Indonesian: teman palsu — type of word
  • Interlingua: false amico — type of word
  • Irish: cara bréige — type of word
  • Italian: falso amico — type of word
  • Japanese: 偽りの友 (itsuwari no tomo) — type of word
  • Japanese: 空似言葉 (sorani kotoba) — type of word
  • Korean: 거짓 친구 (geojit chin'gu) — type of word
  • Korean: 거짓짝 (geojitjjak) — type of word
  • Latin: falsus amicus — type of word
  • Latvian: viltusdraugs — type of word
  • Lithuanian: netikras draugas — type of word
  • Macedonian: лажен пријател (lažen prijatel) — type of word
  • Norwegian Bokmål: falsk venn — type of word
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: falsk ven — type of word
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: falsk venn — type of word
  • Iranian Persian: واژِهٔ فَریبْکار (vâže-ye faribkâr) — type of word
  • Polish: fałszywy przyjaciel — type of word
  • Polish: fałszywy przyjaciel tłumacza — type of word
  • Portuguese: falso amigo — type of word
  • Portuguese: heterossemântico — type of word
  • Romanian: prieten fals — type of word
  • Russian: ло́жный друг (lóžnyj drug) — type of word
  • Serbo-Croatian: лажни пријатељ — type of word
  • Serbo-Croatian: lažni prijatelj — type of word
  • Slovak: falošný priateľ — type of word
  • Slovene: lažni prijatelj — type of word
  • Spanish: falso amigo — type of word
  • Spanish: heterosemántico — type of word
  • Swedish: falsk vän — type of word
  • Thai: เพื่อนเทียม (pʉ̂ʉan-tiiam) — type of word
  • Thai: เพื่อนเท็จ (pʉ̂ʉan-tét) — type of word
  • Turkish: yanlış arkadaşı — type of word
  • Turkish: sahte arkadaş — type of word
  • Ukrainian: хи́бний друг (xýbnyj druh) — type of word
  • Ukrainian: фальши́вий друг (falʹšývyj druh) — type of word
  • Urdu: جُھوٹا دوسْت (jhūṭā dost) — type of word
  • Uzbek: tarjimonning soxta doʻst — type of word
  • Welsh: cyfaill gau — type of word
  • Welsh: gau-gyfaill — type of word