# false friend

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˌfɒls ˈfɹɛnd/

## Definitions
1. A word in a language that bears a deceptive resemblance to a word in another language but in fact has a different meaning.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see false, friend.

## 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).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/false-friend