# Longest false "bilingual" word **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168 "2022-01-04T00:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/21 "2022-01-04T03:07:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > That’s the reason why the Rolls Royce Silver Mist was called Silver Shadow in the end. But from what I am gathering, in Germany it’s common to have mist “in the end”…? ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/22 "2022-01-04T03:07:53Z")
English _diversion_ and Spanish _diversión_, do come from the same root, but diversión in Spanish has more of a fun, laughing meaning, not just a distraction. If you put “que diversion” in Google Translate from Spanish to English it says “so fun”, which wouldn’t be the first meaning you’d get from the English diversion. From this Quora post:[ Pedro Medario](https://www.quora.com/profile/Pedro-Medario-3), knows Spanish [Answered Feb 10, 2018](https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-English-word-that-has-a-totally-different-meaning-in-a-foreign-language/answer/Pedro-Medario-3) · When we Spaniards go to London and see these signs [https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d3b7b1490d5911a81c71aad6f54ad0e1-lq](https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d3b7b1490d5911a81c71aad6f54ad0e1-lq) [Quora post has a picture of a sign saying DIVERSION ENDS; Discourse won’t let me include it] we all feel bad. For us, “diversión” (notice the acute accent in the O) means “fun”. [https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-English-word-that-has-a-totally-different-meaning-in-a-foreign-language](https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-English-word-that-has-a-totally-different-meaning-in-a-foreign-language) And here’s a 9 letter word with no accent: “Gymnasium” in German means high school A feature of all ancient Greek communities, at first it was merely an open space, later with extensive facilities and including training for the mind as well as the body. Hence its use in German from 15c. as a name for “high school” (more or less paralleling a sense also in Latin); in English it has remained purely athletic. [gymnasium | Etymology, origin and meaning of gymnasium by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/gymnasium) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/23 "2022-01-04T03:22:21Z")
I’m not really buying these longer examples. I think they are false ‘false friends’. The different meanings of ‘gymnasium’, ‘diversion’, and ‘deception’ are all too close in relation, IMO. For me, I’m a lot more interested in examples given here like ‘mist’, ‘blinder’, ‘rang’ and ‘fear’. Completely different everything. Another example like that is: Brood. It’s the Dutch word for ‘bread’. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/24 "2022-01-04T03:29:54Z")
I just thought of another one: we know what a kitchen is in English, but in German it’s a colloquial term for prison. Don’t know about the etymology though. ETA: I have to correct myself. The spelling in German is different, it’s Kittchen. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/25 "2022-01-04T03:42:32Z")
German “dick” means “thick”, the jokes from which write themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/26 "2022-01-04T03:43:26Z")
“Mist” is an interesting one because there is an English word that derives from the German word, pretty directly. A word we heard in the last week. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/27 "2022-01-04T03:46:35Z")
You’re a bit cryptic, do you mean mistletoe? ETA: yeah, googled it, found “poo on a stick”. > **[Mistletoe - The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/urban-jungle/pages/121218.html)** > > Seasonal nature in the Washington DC area My advice: don’t eat the berries! ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/28 "2022-01-04T03:48:14Z")
でも (“demo”) can mean “but” or “however” in Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/29 "2022-01-04T04:02:50Z")
That had me wonder how closely related Welsh and English are. Many of you probably knew this, but it appears from [this source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages#/media/File:IndoEuropeanTree.svg) that they aren’t any closer to each other than either of them are to Greek, Russian or Sanskrit; in all cases, their closest common ancestor is Indo-European. 🤯 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/30 "2022-01-04T04:11:28Z")
Another false cognate: _embarazada_ means “pregnant” in Spanish, not “embarrassed”. Also, _constipación_ means you have a cold. And _pie_ means “foot”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/31 "2022-01-04T04:15:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Another false cognate: _embarazada_ means “pregnant” in Spanish, not “embarrassed”. Similarly, prägnant in German doesn’t mean pregnant, but concise. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/32 "2022-01-04T05:00:46Z")
This reminds me of when I was taking Spanish in high school. We learned that the Spanish word _librería_ was not “library” but instead “bookstore” and according to the teacher this was a mistake even native Spanish speakers frequently make. The Spanish word for library is _biblioteca_, as it happens. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/33 "2022-01-04T05:25:02Z")
“Comment” in French means “how”. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/34 "2022-01-04T09:21:34Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Apparently, the word for “worse” in Turkish is “better”. Beter, not better. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/35 "2022-01-04T09:38:24Z")
This is a nitpick, but “gift” in English and “Gift” in German are actually etymologically related; they both go back to a Germanic root that had the same meaning as the modern English word. That word came to be used, among other things, for the dose of a drug that you “give” to someone, and hence it developed the meaning of “poison”, which later crowded out, in German, the original meaning. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/36 "2022-01-04T10:09:21Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I’m not really buying these longer examples. I think they are false ‘false friends’. The different meanings of ‘gymnasium’, ‘diversion’, and ‘deception’ are all too close in relation, IMO. It’s not so much that they have similar meanings, but that they’re related etymologically. But they are in fact false friends, but that is a term of warning to translators. False friends can be related or unrelated, although I expect the related ones are actually the more dangerous. > [@](#): > > For me, I’m a lot more interested in examples given here like ‘mist’, ‘blinder’, ‘rang’ and ‘fear’. Completely different everything. And those are the ones I’m asking for in this thread topic. I said so in the OP. Twice in fact. > [@](#): > > Another example like that is: > > Brood. > > It’s the Dutch word for ‘bread’. Excellent. > [@Schnitte](#): > > This is a nitpick, but “gift” in English and “Gift” in German are actually etymologically related; I did wonder about that one. But my references are all about English, so I don’t always know the German etymology. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/37 "2022-01-04T10:18:54Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Similarly, prägnant in German doesn’t mean pregnant, but concise How is bäbby formed? How girl get prägnant? 🙃 🙃 😂 Annnnnnd… another Dutch one I like is _ **‘ramp’** _ which means ‘disaster’ in English. But it’s only 4 letters long. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/38 "2022-01-04T10:49:39Z")
Some colleagues of mine from the European Parliament have put a lot of effort into this webpage about Spanish/English false friends: > **[English-Spanish False Friends Dictionary - English-Spanish False Friends...](https://www.falsefriends.org/)** > > Start to search for English-Spanish false friends Here is your free Apphttps://dictionary.falsefriends.appclick and find them now This is for students and/or professionals If you are ever uncertain about the meaning of words in English that sound... Why they refuse to include the Spanish terms that are false friends for English speakers or any other language I do not know, but it is their site, so they can do as they please. I like their explanation of _douche_: > No significa ducha, sino 1 irrigación vaginal; 2 imbécil, gilipollas ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/39 "2022-01-04T11:06:42Z")
If English English and American English are different languages, I submit “fanny” and “blinkers”, Fanny in the UK is slang for female genitals - equivalent to pussy. In the US it refers to buttocks. (Best not refer to a "fanny pack in the UK) Blinkers in the UK are the flaps on a horses bridle that restrict its peripheral vision. In the US they are the blinking direction indicators on a car. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/40 "2022-01-04T12:17:23Z")
Sounds like the thing with suspenders, which in one variant refers to what holds up a woman’s stockings and in the other to what holds up a man’s trousers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168.md?page=3)