False Cognate

False Cognate

False cognates are pairs of words in the same or different languages that are similar in form and meaning but have different roots. That is, they appear to be, or are sometimes considered, cognates, when in fact they are not.

Even if false cognates lack a common root, there may still be an indirect connection between them, and they can still be helpful in learning another language.

Read more about False Cognate:  Phenomenon, Examples, "Mama and Papa" Type

Famous quotes containing the words false and/or cognate:

    if thou slip thy troth and do not come at all.
    As minutes in the clock do strike so call for death I shall:
    To please both thy false heart, and rid myself from woe,
    That rather had to die in troth than live forsaken so.
    —Unknown. The Lady Prayeth the Return of Her Lover Abiding on the Seas (l. 19–22)

    Or of the garden where we first mislaid
    Simplicity of wish and will, forgetting
    Out of what cognate splendor all things came
    To take their scattering names;
    Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)