English
false
False comes from Old English fals, from Latin falsus ‘counterfeit, false’, past participle of fallō ‘to deceive’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallō1‘to deceive’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfalsus1‘counterfeit, false’perfect passive participle of fallō
- Old Englishc. 450–1150fals1‘false; fraud’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500false1
- Englishearliest quotation 1551false1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English false
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1551, James A.H. Murray, Oxford: Clarendon Press: “Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallōWiktionary, English false‘to deceive’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfalsusWiktionary, English false‘counterfeit, false’perfect passive participle of fallō
- Old Englishc. 450–1150falsWiktionary, English false‘false; fraud’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falseWiktionary, English false
- Englishearliest quotation 1551falseWiktionary, English false. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1551, James A.H. Murray, Oxford: Clarendon Press: “Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples…”
The story
Reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman and Old French fals, faus.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- ‘to stumble’
through Proto-Italic *falsō
through Latin fallō ‘deceive’
failure, default, fallacy, fallacious, fallible, 7 more
through Latin falsus ‘counterfeit, false’
Today it means
adj Untrue, not factual, factually incorrect.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “false”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin fallō / false