Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

false friend

/ˌfɔls ˈfɹɛnd/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.56 in modern English

Syllables
false friend
IPA
/ˌfɔls ˈfɹɛnd/
18
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
1
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A word in a language that bears a deceptive resemblance to a word in another language but in fact has a different meaning.

noun

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see false, friend.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Calque of French faux-ami, from the longer phrase faux amis du traducteur (“false friends of a translator”), first used by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in 1928 in their book Les Faux Amis ou les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (False Friends, or the Pitfalls of the English Vocabulary).

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˌfɔls ˈfɹɛnd/
  • British English: /ˌfɒls ˈfɹɛnd/

Inflected Forms

false friends (plural)

Phrases

lists of false friends in various languages false cognate misnomer and phantonym

Frequently Paired Words

lists of false friends in various languages cognate false cognate misnomer and phantonym true friend

Synonyms

faux ami false cousin

Questions

How do you pronounce false friend?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˌfɔls ˈfɹɛnd/.
What does false friend mean?
A word in a language that bears a deceptive resemblance to a word in another language but in fact has a different meaning.
Where does false friend come from?
Calque of French faux-ami, from the longer phrase faux amis du traducteur (“false friends of a translator”), first used by Maxime Kœssler and Jules Derocquigny in 1928 in their book Les Faux Amis ou les trahisons du vocabulaire anglais (False Friends, or the Pitfalls of the English Vocabulary).

How to pronounce false friend

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “false friend”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌfɔls ˈfɹɛnd/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “false friend”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “false friend” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.