English
misread
Misread comes from Old English misrǣdan ‘to advise wrongly’, and goes back to rǣdan ‘to read’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣdan1‘to read’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150misrǣdan2‘to advise wrongly’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500misreden2
- Englishearliest quotation 1961misread2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old English misrædan
- 2 Wiktionary, English misread
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1961, Talking of trains: Collision at Waterloo: “In the circumstances the Inspecting Officer concludes that the…”.
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣdanWiktionary, Old English misrædan‘to read’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150misrǣdanWiktionary, English misread‘to advise wrongly’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500misredenWiktionary, English misread
- Englishearliest quotation 1961misreadWiktionary, English misread. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1961, Talking of trains: Collision at Waterloo: “In the circumstances the Inspecting Officer concludes that the…”
Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘to change’
Proto-Indo-European *mitˢtós ‘mutual, reciprocal’
Proto-Germanic *missa- ‘wrongly, badly, mis-’
Proto-West Germanic *missa- ‘mis-, wrongly’
English mis-
Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- ‘to think, arrange’
…
Proto-Germanic *rēdaną ‘advise’
Proto-West Germanic *rādan ‘to advise’
Old English rǣdan ‘to counsel’
Middle English reden ‘to counsel’
English read
The story
For the noun, compare Old English misrǣd (‘misguidance; misconduct’).
Linked words
through Old English rǣdan ‘to read’
Today it means
verb To read wrongly; misconstrue; misinterpret; mistake the sense or significance of.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “misread”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English misrædan. 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 / Old English rǣdan / misread