what is false cognate
(April 2010). False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but actually have different etymologies; these word pairs can be within the same language or be from different ones.This is different from false friends, which may in fact be related but have different meanings.Even though false cognates lack a common root, there may still be an indirect connection between them (for example through phono-semantic matching or folk etymology).his is different from false friends, which may in fact be related but have different meanings. Even though false cognates lack a common root, there may still be an indirect connection between them (for example through phono-semantic matching or folk etymology).