# False cognate

False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. For example, the English word dog and the Mbabaram word dog have exactly the same meaning and very similar pronunciations, but by complete coincidence. Likewise, English much and Spanish mucho came by their similar meanings via completely different Proto-Indo-European roots, and same for English have and Spanish haber. This is different from false friends, which are similar-sounding words with different meanings, and may or may not be cognates.
Even though false cognates lack a common root, there may still be an indirect connection between them (for example by phono-semantic matching or folk etymology).

## Phenomenon

The term "false cognate" is sometimes misused to refer to false friends, but the two phenomena are distinct. False friends occur when two words in different languages or dialects look similar, but have different meanings. While some false friends are also false cognates, many are genuine cognates (see False friends § Causes). For example, English pretend and French prétendre are false friends, but not false cognates, as they have the same origin.

## "Mama and papa" type

The basic kinship terms mama and papa comprise a special case of false cognates; many languages share words of similar form and meaning for these kinship terms, but due to common processes of language acquisition rather than relatedness of the languages.

## Examples

Note: Some etymologies may be simplified to avoid overly long descriptions.

### Within English

| Term 1 | Etymology 1 | Term 2 | Etymology 2 |
| day | Old English dæġ << Proto-Germanic *dagaz << Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ- | diary | Latin diārium << dies ("day") << Proto-Italic *djēm << PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") |
| island | Middle English iland << Old English īeġland << Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą | isle | Middle English ile << Old French i(s)le << Latin insula |
| policy | Middle English policie << Old French policie << Late Latin politia << Ancient Greek politeía | police | French police << Italian polizza << Medieval Latin apodissa << Ancient Greek apódeixis |

### Between English and other languages

| English term | English etymology | Foreign term | Foreign etymology |
| bad | Possibly from OE bæddel ("hermaphrodite, effeminate man") << PGmc *bad- ("defile") | Persian بد, bad | Middle Iranian *vat << PIE *wed(h)- |
| better | OE betera | Persian بهتر, behtar and Hindustani descendants | به (beh, "good") + تر (-tar, "-er") |
| cinder | OE sinder << PGmc *sendra- "slag" << PIE *sendhro- "coagulating fluid" | French cendre ("ash") | Latin cinerem << PIE *ken- ("to arise, begin") |
| dog | OE docga or dogga | Mbabaram dog ("dog") | Proto-Pama-Nyungan *gudaga |
| day | OE dæġ << PGmc *dagaz << PIE *dʰeǵʰ- | Latin dies ("day") and descendants | Proto-Italic *djēm << PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") |
| emoticon | emotion + icon | Japanese 絵文字 (emoji) | 絵 (e) ("picture") + 文字 (moji) ("character") |
| hollow | OE holh << PGmc *holhwo- | Lake Miwok hóllu | |
| much | OE myċel << PGmc *mikilaz << PIE *meǵa- ("big, stout, great") | Spanish mucho ("much") | Latin multus (many) << PIE *ml̥tos ("crumbled") |
| desert | Latin dēserō ("to abandon") << ultimately PIE **seh₁- ("to sow") | Ancient Egyptian Deshret (refers to the land not flooded by the Nile) | from dšr (red) |
| saint | Latin sanctus << PIE *seh₂k- ("to sanctify") via French | Sanskrit sant and descendants | sat ("truth, reality, essence") |
| shark | Middle English shark from uncertain origin | Chinese 鲨 (shā) | Named as its crude skin similar to sand (沙 (shā)) |
| have | Middle English haven << OE habban (“to have”) << Proto-West Germanic *habbjan << Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of *habjaną (“to lift, take up”) << PIE *kh₂pyéti present tense of *keh₂p- (“to take, seize, catch”). | Corsican avè (“to have”) | Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō << Proto-Italic *habēō << PIE *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab”). |

### Between other languages

| Term 1 | Etymology 1 | Term 2 | Etymology 2 |
| French feu ("fire") | Latin focus | German Feuer ("fire") | PGmc *fōr ~ *fun- << PIE *péh₂wr̥ |
| French nuque ('nape') | Latin nucha, from Arabic نُخَاع nukhāʻ 'spinal marrow' | Hungarian nyak ('neck') | Proto-Uralic *ńᴕkkɜ 'neck' |
| German haben ('to have') | PG *habjaną << PIE *keh₂p- ("to grasp") | Latin habere ("to have") and descendants | PIE *gʰeh₁bʰ- ("to grab, to take") |
| Swedish göl ("pool") | PG *guljō | Salar göl ("pool") | Proto-Turkic *kȫl ("lake") |
| German Erdbeere ('strawberry') | Erd ('earth') + Beere ('berry') | Hungarian eper ('strawberry') | |
| German Haus ('house') | | Hungarian ház ('house') | |
| Hawaiian kahuna ('priest') | | Hebrew כוהן (kohen) ('priest') | |
| Hungarian nő ('woman') | | Mandarin Chinese 女 (nǚ) ('woman') | |
| Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ (kayak) | Proto-Eskimo *qyaq | Turkish kayık ('small boat') | Old Turkic kayguk << Proto-Turkic kay- ("to slide, to turn") |
| Mayaimi Mayaimi (Big water) | | Hebrew מים mayim ("water") | |
| Japanese ありがとう arigatō ("thank you") | Clipping of 有難う御座います "arigatō gozaimasu" ("(I) am thankful") << 有難く "arigataku" << 有難い "arigatai" ("thankful, appreciated") << Old Japanese 有難斯 "arigatasi" ("difficult to be") | Portuguese obrigado ("thank you") | Literally "obliged" << Latin obligātus |
| Hindustani अम्मा / اما (ammā, "mother") | Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀫𑀸 (aṃmā), from Sanskrit अम्बा (ambā, "mother, feminine honorific") | Tamil அம்மா (ammā, "mother") | Proto-Dravidian *amma ("mother") |
| Indonesian tanah ("ground") | Proto-Austronesian *tanaq | Aleut tanax̂ ("ground") | Proto-Eskimo *luna ("earth") |
| Tagalog bagay ("thing") | Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bagay | Haitian Creole bagay ("thing") | Saint Dominican Creole French bagage |
| Dusun do ("of") | Austronesian o | Portuguese do ("of") | Latin de |

## False cognates used in the coinage of new words

The coincidental similarity between false cognates can sometimes be used in the creation of new words (neologization). For example, the Hebrew word דַּל dal ("poor") (which is a false cognate of the phono-semantically similar English word dull) is used in the new Israeli Hebrew expression אין רגע דל en rega dal (literally "There is no poor moment") as a phono-semantic matching for the English expression Never a dull moment.
Similarly, the Hebrew word דיבוב dibúv ("speech, inducing someone to speak"), which is a false cognate of (and thus etymologically unrelated to) the phono-semantically similar English word dubbing, is then used in the Israeli phono-semantic matching for dubbing. The result is that in Modern Hebrew, דיבוב dibúv means "dubbing".