# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/41 "2022-01-04T12:27:05Z")
“Looming” in Estonian means “creation.” ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/42 "2022-01-04T12:45:21Z")
Well, us people with Germanic roots tend to mess things up. Slight variation in spelling, though Swedish \<-\>English Eventuell \<-\> probable, possible Gymnasium \<-\> high school Högskola (same root as high school) \<-\> college Folk\<-\> people, tribe, nation (I only see folk with that connotation in English compounded with other words, i.e. folk lore, folk music but not stand alone. cf. German Volk) A Spanish English I haven’t seen so far: Real = royal. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/43 "2022-01-04T13:22:38Z")
My college had a foreign language requirement, so I took 3 semesters of French. One of my professors had an amusing anecdote about someone they knew who studied French, who took a trip to France to practice their mastery of the language. They were at the market buying groceries. This person was into organic food, so wanted to know if the milk had preservatives in it, but didn’t know the French for ‘preservatives’. So they took a chance and ‘frenched up’ the pronunciation of the word ‘preservatives’, asking “le lait a-t-il des preservatives?” The proprieter burst out laughing. It turns out they were asking if the milk had condoms in it. I know ‘preservative’ and ‘préservatif’ (the actual spelling in French) are not exact spelling matches, but I thought it’s a funny commentary on not assuming that similar words have similar meanings in different languages. ---
**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, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/44 "2022-01-04T13:29:34Z")
Sorry about being excessively cute. It was late and I was about to go to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/45 "2022-01-04T13:32:09Z")
Then there are aural false friends, like “caos,” meaning chaos in Spanish, but pronounced very much like the English word “cows.” I find this hilarious — it reminds me of many a Far Side cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/46 "2022-01-04T13:44:09Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Completely different everything. Another example like that is: > > Brood. > > It’s the Dutch word for ‘bread’. Except that English _bread_, German _Brot_, and Dutch _brood_ all derive from the same Germanic root. They’re all cognates. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/47 "2022-01-04T13:48:05Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Except that English _bread_ , German _Brot_ , and Dutch _brood_ all derive from the same Germanic root. They’re all cognates. But English “brood” (be sad about; progeny) is not a cognate — that’s the point. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/48 "2022-01-04T13:49:13Z")
But the English word **brood** is _not_ from the same root. It looks the same, but isn’t related. That is the false cognate. ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/49 "2022-01-04T13:52:29Z")
Actually, I just found out that if you go all the way back to Proto-Indo-European, it turns out they’re all related! The original word was about heating and cooking, hence “bread” but also “brood” (progeny=the children you “cook up”;to be sad=to “simmer” about). Who knew? But that’s too far back to be considered “cognates,” in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/50 "2022-01-04T13:56:19Z")
Correcting myself: The semantic link from PIE “to cook or burn” to English “brood” is through hens sitting on eggs (“progeny”), keeping them warm (and “muttering to themselves mournfully”): > **[brood | Etymology, origin and meaning of brood by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/brood)** > > BROOD Meaning: "offspring of egg-laying animals, hatchlings, young birds hatched in one nest," from Proto-Germanic… See origin and meaning of brood. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/51 "2022-01-04T13:59:24Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So anyone know of a longer example? They can be between any two languages, but remember the words do have to be unrelated. _pretend_ in Portuguese means “intend” in English. Can be a rich source of comedic irony when the speaker is not an especially reliable person. You might think the German city name Regensburg might have something to do with rain, or you might think it had inherited some Latin root for “ruler” or “king”. But it’s named after a nearby river whose name origin is obscure. ---
**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, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/52 "2022-01-04T13:59:59Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/53 "2022-01-04T14:03:02Z")
That’s hilarious! Inadvertent meta-postmodernism. So it works in French as well as in Spanish. In addition to Far Side, I think of the comedic-relief line in the 1990s film “Twister”: “COW!!” (shouted as an airborne cow nearly hits a car during a tornado storm). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/54 "2022-01-04T14:03:51Z")
Jeeze, you’re right. Complete brainfart. Color me embarrassed. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/55 "2022-01-04T14:03:59Z")
Somewhat related, but all across Easter Pennsylvania, in Pennsylvania Dutch (meaning German) land, you’ll see signs for “Gift Haus”. Since “gift” is a word in German and English, but “Haus” is only a German word, the only possible way to understand that is “poison house”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/56 "2022-01-04T14:04:54Z")
Well, yes and no — see the PIE root in my later post. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/57 "2022-01-04T14:05:13Z")
Not exact , but in Finnish "maailman " means “world’s”, or so I’m told. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/58 "2022-01-04T14:07:01Z")
Not a long one, but a really aggravating one: in Malay, “air” means……water! Okay, I’ll stop posting, and let someone else try to answer the OP. ---
**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, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/59 "2022-01-04T14:31:21Z")
If you go back that long, then, funnily, the words “science” and “shit” are cognates. They both go back to an Indo-European root meaning “to separate”. In the case of “shit”, it describes the process of excretion; in the case of “science”, that word comes, of course, from Latin _scientia_, based on a verb _scire_ (“to know”), which in turn comes from that Indo-European root, the logic being that to “know” or “understand” something you must be able to distinguish it from something else. German “schneiden” (“to cut”) is another cognate. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2022, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168/60 "2022-01-04T14:32:51Z")
This is my favorite example of this!! I tell my students about it. Even since I learned this (reading the American Heritage dictionary), I can’t take a crap without picturing how a piece of me is being “cut off,” like with scissors (“scissors,” of course, is another related word). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-false-bilingual-word/957168.md?page=4)