English
falsely
Falsely comes from Latin falsus ‘false’, and goes back to fallō ‘deceive, trick’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallō1‘deceive, trick’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfalsus2‘false’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150fals2‘falsehood, fraud, counterfeit’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fals3‘false’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falsly4
- Englishearliest quotation 1910falsely4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin falsus
- 2 Wiktionary, Middle English fals
- 3 Wiktionary, Middle English falsly
- 4 Wiktionary, English falsely
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1910, PRINCETON'S GRADUATE COLLEGE; Issues a Denial [....]: “This could not be more falsely stated.”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallōWiktionary, Latin falsus‘deceive, trick’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfalsusWiktionary, Middle English fals‘false’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150falsWiktionary, Middle English fals‘falsehood, fraud, counterfeit’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falsWiktionary, Middle English falsly‘false’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falslyWiktionary, English falsely
- Englishearliest quotation 1910falselyWiktionary, English falsely. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1910, PRINCETON'S GRADUATE COLLEGE; Issues a Denial [....]: “This could not be more falsely stated.”
Formed from false + -ly
Latin fallō ‘to deceive’
Latin falsus ‘counterfeit, false’
Old English fals ‘false; fraud’
Middle English false
English false
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- ‘to stumble’
through Proto-Italic *falsō
through Latin fallō ‘deceive, trick’
failure, default, fallacy, fallacious, fallible, 7 more
through Latin falsus ‘false’
Today it means
adv In a false manner.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “falsely”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin falsus, Middle English fals, Middle English falsly. 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 / falsely