False
/fɔːls/noun
Not true; incorrect or deliberately untruthful.
Did you know?In Old French, the ancestor of “false” could describe not just lies, but anything treacherous, feigned, or morally rotten — proof that words once carried danger as much as meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dheh₁-
“to put, place, set”
Latin
Latin
fallere
“to deceive, trick, disappoint”
Late Latin
Latin
falsus
“deceived, erroneous, counterfeit”
Old French
Old French
fals
“false, treacherous, counterfeit”
Middle English
English
false
“deceitful, untrue, treacherous”
Modern English
English
false
“not true; incorrect; intentionally untruthful”