# False Cognates



## ronanpoirier

There was a similar thread before.
But my point now is to try to find false cognates in languages which are not that similar. And funny false cognates from similar languages, as already was pointed out in another thread which I can't remember the name.

I have a list I made comparing Portuguese, English, Spanish and Italian with Hungarian. When I find it, I post the false cognates here.



_o/    Regards.


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## Whodunit

Oh, that's hard. 

So far, I have collected two for Arabic-German and Japanese-German:

bain (بين) _between_ - Bein _leg_
hass (هسّ) _a whisper_ - Hass _hatred_

mama (まま) _because_ - Mama _mom_
haze (鯊 / ハゼ) _goby_ - Hase _hare_

I can't remember funny false cognates now.


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## spakh

Rememberin' a funny one. Turkish-German
Armut: poverty in German - armut: pear in Turkish


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## Frank06

Hi,
Interesting topic, these 'false cognates' or 'chance similarities', since it is the basis of quite a lot of so-called 'linguistic' work by internet-amateur-linguists (who want to prove a relation between, let's say their own tongue and Sumerian). Also people like Merritt Ruhlen, who wants to prove some long range relations between language families, publishes this kind of false cognates to, erm, substantiate his claims.

One example of a rather ideosyncratic theory: this article in which a mix of real and false cognates have to substantiate that Anglo-Saxon words have Persian origins. Here is another example of an amateur linguist (Hebrew and English).
See also: linguist Donald  Ringe  (he gives a list of false Quechua & Semitic cognates), Zompist.

Having said that...

I once had a long list, so this is only a selection of what I could find back.

- French _cantine_ - Chinese _canting_ (dining hall). Mind you, the similarity is only due to the Chinese Pinyin!
- English _bad* - *_Persian _bad_ (same meaning, not related!)
- Korean 'mani' - English 'many'
- English 'much' and Spanish 'mucho' 'much'
- English 'day' and Spanish 'dia' 'day'
- Dutch 'elkaar' 'each other' and Basque 'elkar' 'each other'
- Old English 'habb-' 'have' (or German 'haben') and Latin 'hab-' ('habere') 'have'
- Hungarian 'fiu' 'boy' and Romanian 'fiu' 'son, boy' (?)
- French 'femme' 'woman' and Romanian 'femeie' 'woman' (?)
- German nass 'wet' - Zuni (New Mexico) nas 'wet'
- Rumanian dori 'wish for, desire' - Lau (Austronesian) dori 'wish for,desire'
- Latin 'deus' god – Cl. Greek 'theos' god (!)


[*Edit:* more examples here]

Groetjes,

Frank


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## jester.

Frank06 said:


> - French _cantine_ - Chinese _canting_ (dining hall). Mind you, the similarity is only due to the Chinese Pinyin!
> - English _bad* - *_Persian _bad_ (same meaning, not related!)
> - Korean 'mani' - English 'many'
> * - English 'much' and Spanish 'mucho' 'much'
> - English 'day' and Spanish 'dia' 'day'*
> - Dutch 'elkaar' 'each other' and Basque 'elkar' 'each other'
> - Old English 'habb-' 'have' (or German 'haben') and Latin 'hab-' ('habere') 'have'
> * - Hungarian 'fiu' 'boy' and Romanian 'fiu' 'son, boy' (?)**
> - French 'femme' 'woman' and Romanian 'femeie' 'woman' (?)*
> - ...



The ones I marked in red are no false cognates, IMO.

The one in blue might be due to the location of Hungary and Romania.


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## jazyk

I can only think right now of Portuguese bunda (ass, not the animal) and Czech bunda (coat).


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## Flaminius

Whodunit said:


> mama (まま) _often, as is_ - Mama _mom_


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## Frank06

Hi,



jester. said:


> The ones I marked in red are no false cognates, IMO. The one in blue might be due to the location of Hungary and Romania.



- What Sp. dia / English day and Sp. much / E. much are concerned: they really aren't cognates (see this etymological dictionary). 
To summarize it: *n*either dia/day and mucho (< L. multus)/much go back to the same Proto-Indo-European root.
- If I understand it well, H. fiu goes back to the proto-Uralic form *poijka, while Romanian fiu comes from L. filius.
- French femme < L. femina, while Ro. femeie < familia(!).

[I hope the links direct you immidiately to the right pages. If not, you'll have to do some searching ;-)]

Groetjes,

Frank


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## jester.

Wow, that's interesting. I'd have sworn they were related. Thanks for correcting me


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## Hakro

Finnish and French have not only common words but common phrases, too. I have written (together with my brother) a Finnish poem made of French words. In some cases we had to combine two French words into one Finnish, and in some cases one word is split in two. The poem is too long (26 lines) to put it all here, but it starts like this:

  VAIN JURON ARPI ON AVION ESTE (only the scar of a sullen person is a hindrance for marriage)
  PETER SAI MARIN PETILLE (Peter got Mary on the bed)
  PAPILLE PARI PIAN MENEE (soon the couple goes to the preacher)
  AUTAN PARIA JOTA PURIN (I help the couple that I bit)
  PETIT MUT, SILLON SURIN (you betrayed me, then I was grieved)
MA POTIN VANNETAPIN PUROTIN, ALUN MENIN, LUMEN LOIN (I dropped the rim plug of the pot, I went the beginning, I shoveled the snow)
SEN UNIPISTON PATIN SAIN, MILLE VALVEILOT, RATON SOIN (I got a swelling from that dream-sting to which I gave the awake joys and amusement)

  ... and it ends like this:

  MENE TONNE MAILLE SEN TIEN, SAISIT SELON (go there to the countryside right away, you'd get informed)
  MIETELAUSE SOI. HUI, VOISIN OIETA! MOI! (An aphorism is sounding. Eek, I could straighten myself! Ciao!)


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## optimistique

Chinese '*in1hang1'* (bank) sounds like Dutch '*ingang'* (entrance). 

Swedish (though languages are related): "*mot vinden*" (against the wind) sounds like Dutch "*moet vinden*" (must find).

Hawaiian '*kou*' (your, you have) vs Dutch '*kou*' (cold)
Hawaiian '*koke*' (quick) vs Dutch '*koken*' (to cook) <- -n is not pronounced.

Indonesian '*detik*' (second) vs Hollandish Dutch '*deed ik*' (did I)

All not funny, although personally I like the first one


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## Aleco

Even though *Norwegian* and *Swedish* are very similar there's one thing 
Swedish *rolig* means in Norwegian *morsom*, but it's written just like the Norwegian word *rolig*, which is *calm*. Almost the opposite 

And in German you can say *Den dritten* (The third) but that just reminds me of the Norwegian *den dritten* which means *that shit*


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## spakh

German-Turkish
Tür : door in German
tür : species in Turkish


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## jester.

Spanish-French

Spanish: timbre=bell, doorbell
French: timbre=stamp


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## zaigucis

latvian laiva (boat)
finnish laiva (ship)

latvian maukas (sluts)
finnish maukas (tasty)

latvian aita (sheep)
finnish aita (fence)

latvian suka (brush)
finnish suka (currycomb)
polish, slovak suka (bitch)
russian сука (bitch)

latvian kaka (shit)
swedish kaka (cake)
hungarian kaka (rush)

latvian mats (hair)
estonian mats (boor, bumpkin)

and so on.... 
I have many more, if you want more, let me know


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## jester.

zaigucis said:


> and so on....
> I have many more, if you want more, let me know



Yes, I would like more. They're quite interesting, methinks


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## zaigucis

*jester *specially for you:

latvian pups (teat)
german pups (fart)


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## jester.

zaigucis said:


> *jester *specially for you:
> 
> latvian pups (teat)
> german pups (fart)



Great  

Thank you


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## jazyk

Portuguese/Spanish/Italian curva (curve) - Polish kurwa/Czech kurva (whore)

Portuguese/Spanish sarna (scabies) - Polish sarna (deer)

French beaucoup d'eau (a lot of water) - Japanese bokudoo (cowboy) - they sound the same


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## ronanpoirier

jazyk said:
			
		

> Portuguese/Spanish/Italian/Catalan curva (curve) - Polish kurwa/Czech kurva (whore)


Same for Hungarian: kurva = whore


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## zaigucis

and some more:

latvian abate (abbess)
italian, romanian abate (abbot)
portuguese abate (slaughter)

latvian soma (bag)
danish, dutch soma (body)
italian soma (load)
romanian soma (summon)
portuguese soma (sum)

latvian sist (to beat)
norwegian sist (final)
swedish sist (last)

latvian koks (tree)
lithuanian koks (what)
czech koks (coke, snow)
spanish koks (cocaine, coals)
dutch koks (chefs)
in many languages koks = coke

latvian mati (hair plural)
croatian mati (parent)

latvian spalva (feather)
lithuanian spalva (colour)

latvian smaka (bad smell)
swedish smaka (taste)

latvian, estonian naba (navel)
spanish naba (rutabaga, turnip)

latvian nauda (money)
lithuanian nauda (utility)

latvian kaza (she-goat)
turkish kaza (accident)

latvian elle (hell)
french elle (she)
german elle (ulna)

latvian es (I)
danish es (ace)
dutch es (ash)
french es (are)
german es (it)
romanian es (sleeker)
slovak es (withal)
spanish es (is)
turkish es (rest)

latvian mute (mouth)
polish mute (deaf)
spanish mute (mutate)

latvian, lithuanian alus (beer)
finnish alus (vessel)
estonian alus (base)

latvian maks (purse)
estonian maks (liver)

latvian laka (varnish)
polish laka (meadow)

latvian kaps (grave)
german kaps (capes)
albanian kaps (costive)

latvian, slovak, croatian, swedish skola (school)
lithuanian skola (debt)
icelandic skola (flush, irrigate)

latvian bedre (pit)
danish, norwegian bedre (better)

latvian ola (egg)
irish, scottish ola (oil)
lithuanian ola (cave)
portuguese ola (motor pool)
spanish ola (wave)

latvian, hungarian kanna (can)
swedish kanna (jug, pot)

latvian viela (matter, substance)
lithuanian viela (wire)
portuguese viela (alley)

latvian, french halva (halvah)
croatian halva (paste)
swedish halva (half)

latvian nagi (nails)
estonian nagi (peg)
polish nagi (nude, naked)

latvian balts (white)
dutch balts (display)

latvian vanna (bath)
finnish, swedish vanna (tank)

latvian milti (flour)
icelandic milti (spleen)

latvian vate (cotton wool)
italian vate (prophet)
portuguese, spanish vate (bard)

latvian viens (one, single)
french viens (come)

latvian pase (passport)
spanish pase (pass, permit)

latvian varde (frog)
danish, norwegian varde (cairn)

latvian salmi (straws)
finnish salmi (sound)
italian salmi (psalms)

latvian pile (drop)
croatian, bulgarian pile (chicken)
french pile (pile, battery)
italian pile (batteries, dry cells)
norwegian pile (flit)


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## Hakro

What a wonderful collection, Zaigucis! 

... and I'd add:
Finnish soma (nice)
Finnish kanna (imperative form of _to bear_)

... but:
Finnish alus (vessel; base; subject)
Finnish vanna (bathtub, not tank; also in Swedish _vanna_ is something else)


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## Josh_

In English insane means crazy and in Arabic إنسان insaan means human being.  There is a slight difference in pronunciation, but they are similar enough to have elicited a chuckle out of me as human beings can be crazy.

In Hebrew the word for fish, דג, is pronounced 'dog'.


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## Hakro

There's a true story about these false cognates:

A friend of mine, named Immu (a very common nickname in Finland) went to Paris. He didn't know a word of French (nor any other foreign language) but he found his way to Montmartre, to a street of the red lights. 

Sooner or later he was in a hotel room with a beautiful French girl who, before going to bed, insisted him to use a condom. Immu didn't want to do it as he hadn't used one ever before in his life. 

The French girl tried to explain something, in vain, and finally she wrote on a paper: SIDA, and pointed herself with her finger. 

Suddenly Immu realized that the girl was only trying to tell her name – Sida sounds like a nice female name. So he took the pen and wrote his name: IMMU, and pointed himself with his finger. 

The French girl looked at the word on the paper, eyes wide open, and she said: "Vraiment?!" And then...

  I'm sorry, Immu didn't tell me what happened next.

  PS.
  If someone doesn't know, "aids" is in French "sida".


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## amikama

Josh Adkins said:


> In Hebrew the word for fish, דג, is pronounced 'dog'.


It would be very funny, but --sorry to disappoint you-- דג is pronounced 'dag'.


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## Outsider

But perhaps "dog" sounds like "dag", if you pronounce it with an American accent...


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## zaigucis

Hakro said:


> What a wonderful collection, Zaigucis!
> 
> ... and I'd add:
> Finnish soma (nice)
> Finnish kanna (imperative form of _to bear_)
> 
> ... but:
> Finnish alus (vessel; base; subject)
> Finnish vanna (bathtub, not tank; also in Swedish _vanna_ is something else)



ok, I will note it.

same more latvian finnish:

latvian vasara (summer)
finnish vasara (hammer)

and what does *kutina nabu *means in finnish?


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## Hakro

zaigucis said:


> what does *kutina nabu *means in finnish?


*kutina* =itch
*nabu* means nothing in Finnish; there is no 'b' (neither sound nor letter) in Finnish words. I might be Estonian. I could guess that it means an 'itching navel' or something like that.


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## Marga H

Finish: matka (travel)
Polish: matka (mother)
Finish:valuta(money)
Polish:waluta(kind of money)
Finish:matka valuta(exchange money office) for Polish people sounds something like "money is my mother"


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## Marga H

Hello zaigucis,
In Polish meadow is *łąka*(not laka)
deaf is *głuchy*(not mute)


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## Hakro

Marga H said:


> Finish: matka (travel)
> Polish: matka (mother)
> Finish:valuutta (money) (kind of money)
> Polish:waluta(kind of money)
> Finish:matka valuta(exchange money office) for Polish people sounds something like "money is my mother"


Sorry, you've had wrong information.
"Matkavaluutta" = Foreign currency for travelling


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## werrr

zaigucis said:


> ...
> czech koks (coke, snow)
> ...


In standard Czech it's only *coke*, but it's also slang term for *cacaine* (or heroin...). In this sense, it's also *snow*, but only in this sense.


> slovak es (withal)


Sorry, I never heard this word in Slovak.


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## zaigucis

Marga H said:


> Finish: matka (travel)
> Polish: matka (mother)
> Finish:valuta(money)
> Polish:waluta(kind of money)
> Finish:matka valuta(exchange money office) for Polish people sounds something like "money is my mother"



and russian матка (matka) means - uterus


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## zaigucis

Marga H said:


> Hello zaigucis,
> In Polish meadow is *łąka*(not laka)
> deaf is *głuchy*(not mute)




ok, thanks for correction


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## zaigucis

werrr said:


> In standard Czech it's only *coke*, but it's also slang term for *cacaine* (or heroin...). In this sense, it's also *snow*, but only in this sense.
> 
> Sorry, I never heard this word in Slovak.



ok, I will correct my list


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## Outsider

Does this count as a false cognate?


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## amikama

Hebrew *היא* (she) - English *he*
Hebrew *הוא* (he) - English *who?*
Hebrew *?מי* (who?) - English *me*


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## Frank06

Hi,

I guess we'd better change the title of this thread to 'different words with different meanings from different languages, but which happen to sound similar' .

Anyway:

Persian (meaning in English) - Dutch (meaning in English)
in (this) - in (in)
ham (also) - ham (bacon)
mâ (we) - ma (mother)
bad (bad) - bad (bath) [slight difference, Persian /bad/, Dutch /bat/)
bâd (wind) - baad (to bathe)
man (I) - man (man)
do (2) - do (do)
kam (less) - kam (comb)
zin (saddle) - zin (phrase, meaning)
kot (jacket) - kot (shack)
jin (jeans) - gin (gin)
va (and) - va (dad)
nun (bread) - noen (morning)
dar (in) - dar (male bee)


A few less polite ones:
koon (ass) - Koen (a common name in Belgium)
an (ass) - An (a name, very common)
kir (bad word for penis) - Kirr (an alcoholic drink; Kirr Royal: ...)

Frank


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## Outsider

*pila*: battery or sink in Spanish; willy in Portuguese.


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## jazyk

Bom saber, se algum dia for a Portugal, tenho de me lembrar de não usar essa palavra. Pila no Brasil é usado informalmente para dinheiro.


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## jazyk

> latvian mati (hair plural)
> croatian mati (parent)


And Greek μάτι means eye.


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## zaigucis

Frank06 said:


> Hi,
> 
> man (I) - man (man)
> kam (less) - kam (comb)
> zin (saddle) - zin (phrase, meaning)
> kot (jacket) - kot (shack)
> Frank


 
In Latvian man (for me)
              kam (for whom)
              zin (knows)

in russian кот (kot) - cat
​


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## jester.

Spanish-English:

soportar = to sustain, to endure
sostener = to support

Ok, they aren't exactly the same, but I had a hard time getting this into my head


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## jazyk

Czech hus - goose
Swedish/Danish hus - house


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## jester.

French-Spanish

subir (FR) = to endure
subir (ES) = to rise

salir (FR) = to stain
salir (ES) = to go out, to leave


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## jester.

jester. said:


> Spanish-English:
> 
> soportar = to sustain, to endure
> sostener = to support



This is, by the way, also true for French-English:

supporter=to sustain, to endure
soutenir=to support


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## jazyk

Let's enlarge that to include more languages:

subir (FR)/subire (IT) = to endure
subir (ES/PT) = to rise

salir (FR) = to stain
salir (ES)/sair (PT) = to go out, to leave


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## jester.

jazyk said:


> Let's enlarge that to include more languages:
> 
> subir (FR)/subire (IT) = to endure
> subir (ES/PT) = to rise
> 
> salir (FR) = to stain
> salir (ES)/sair (PT) = to go out, to leave



I wonder if there might be a reason for this. I suspect it is somehow related to the geographical distribution of the Romance languages.

Jazyk, could you do us the favour to add Catalan and Romanian to the "Subir-Salir-list"?


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## jazyk

To go out = Ro a ieşi, Cat eixir/sortir
To go down = Ro a urca, Cat pujar


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## robbie_SWE

Sorry Jazyk, but "_a urca_" in Romanian means "to rise". 

*M-am urcat din patul meu* = I have gotten up/arisen from my bed. 
*A urca scările* = to go upp the stairs

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but Romanian doesn't fit in the category "Subir-Salir".  

To endure: _a îndura, a suporta_
To rise: _a se ridica, a se urca_
To stain: _a păta_ 
To leave/go ou: _a pleca, a ieşi_

Hope this helped! 

PS: the Romanian verb "a face" is in the first person "(eu) fac". This fac is pronounced exactly like the English word "fuck"  ... In Swedish we have the word "fack" which also is pronounced like "fuck", but means safety deposit box (the bank) or worker’s union. So if you hear Romanians and Swedes say this to you they are not trying to be deliberately rude, they’re just saying “I do” and “safety deposit box/union”!   

 robbie


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## jester.

robbie_SWE said:


> PS: the Romanian verb "a face" is in the first person "(eu) fac". This fac is pronounced exactly like the English word "fuck"  ... In Swedish we have the word "fack" which also is pronounced like "fuck", but means safety deposit box (the bank) or worker’s union. So if you hear Romanians and Swedes say this to you they are not trying to be deliberately rude, they’re just saying “I do” and “safety deposit box/union”!




I already knew the Swedish one. I think it was here on WR where I read a story about two elderly ladies who went to London and asked in a hotel, "How much do you want for a fuck/fack?"


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## robbie_SWE

jester. said:


> I already knew the Swedish one. I think it was here on WR where I read a story about two elderly ladies who went to London and asked in a hotel, "How much do you want for a fuck/fack?"


 
Yeah, I've heard that one too. "_Do you want a little fack or a big fack_" said the Swedish banker to his English costumer.    

 robbie


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## jazyk

> Sorry Jazyk, but "_a urca_" in Romanian means "to rise".


Sorry, my bad. I meant to go up, as can be seen by the Catalan example, pujar.

What a different a small word can make!


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## zaigucis

robbie very fanny..  I have some fanny too 

and Latvian *šitas* (slang - this) sounds like *shit ass* 
spanish *hui *sounds like russian *хуй* (xuy)- slang dick (very popular rude word, like english fuck - widely used, it can have any meaning, depending on the context)
Czech *pozor *(attention, watch) sounds like russian *позор *(pozor) - dishonour
in Danish *fartplan *means timetable 
when Gipsy shouts - *dik! dik !* (dick! dick!), he means - look! look! 

in Latvia we have city *Ogre*
and who dont know village *Fucking *in Austria?


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## jazyk

> spanish *hui *sounds like russian *хуй* (xuy)- slang dick (very popular rude word, like english fuck - widely used, it can have any meaning, depending on the context)


I beg to differ. The h in Romance languages (except Romanian, as far as I know) is not pronounced, so it doesn't sound like *хуй*, also because in *хуй *you have a diphthong, and in hui is pronounced closer to French oui or English we.


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## Outsider

A classic confuser for tourists: English *push* vs. Portuguese *puxe* ("pull").


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## Outsider

Another funny one: French *chiffre "figure (number)"*, Portuguese *chifre "horn"*.


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## ronanpoirier

Just found this one while translating a song:

French - Traîner (to drag)
Portuguese - Treinar (train)


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## ronanpoirier

Oh! I remembered today the conjugation of the verb 'to go" in the present in Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian is very confusing:

Portuguese:
Eu vou
Tu vais
Ele vai

Spanish:
Yo voy
Tú vas
Él va

French:
Je vais
Tu vas
Il va

Italian:
Io vo
Tu vai
Lui va


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## User1001

*English:* _Gift_
*German:* _das Gift (Poison)_

...that's actually a pretty funny one.


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## jester.

ronanpoirier said:


> Portuguese:
> Eu vou
> Tu vais
> Ele vai
> 
> Spanish:
> Yo voy
> Tú vas
> Él va
> 
> French:
> Je vais
> Tu vas
> Il va
> 
> Italian:
> Io v*ad*o
> Tu vai
> Lui va


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## ergaster

jester said:
			
		

> Italian:
> Io v*ad*o
> Tu vai
> Lui va


_Io vo_ is not wrong, although it is used only in Tuscany. _Io vado_ is the common form.


Other false cognates:

burro (IT)= butter - burro (ES)= donkey

aceto (IT)= vinegar - aceite (ES)= oil
(At an Italian restaraunt every time a Spanyard asks for oil they bring him vinegar and viceversa )

largo (IT)= wide - largo (ES)= long

officina (IT)= workshop - oficina (ES)= office

tenda (IT)= tent - tienda (ES)= shop
carpa (IT)= carp (fish) - carpa (ES)= tent


As for other roman languages, there are false cognates with _sopportare, sostenere, subire _and_ salire_




			
				zaigucis said:
			
		

> latvian elle (hell)
> french elle (she)
> german elle (ulna)
> italian elle (name of the letter 'l')
> ...
> latvian mute (mouth)
> polish mute (deaf)
> spanish mute (mutate)
> italian mute (feminine plural of dumb)
> 
> latvian, slovak, croatian, swedish skola (school)
> lithuanian skola (debt)
> icelandic skola (flush, irrigate)
> italian scola ('it drains') - same sound
> 
> latvian, hungarian kanna (can)
> swedish kanna (jug, pot)
> italian canna (cane, but also slang for joint) - same sound


 

There are many false cognates between Japanese and Italian too.


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## Jeedade

Portuguese speakers should be very careful using the verb "ficar" in Italy, if you want a lady to stay with you do not say "fica!"


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## Cepkah

ronanpoirier said:


> Same for Hungarian: kurva = whore



same for bulgarian kurva but it's written as курва


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## Cepkah

БОГ is god in bulgarian it's written as Bog but it sounds like BOK
 However in turkish Bok is *shit*


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## Lemminkäinen

In Eastern Norwegian, the adjective *snål* means 'weird' (in some dialects it means 'nice', 'pleasant'), but in Swedish it means 'stingy, niggardly' (it has the same meaning in some northern dialects).

*Fart* means 'speed' and *fag* means 'subject', just to mention a few Norwegian-English.


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## Anatoli

Chinese vs Russian:

* Chinese Mandarin:*
hui (has a lot of meaning depending on the tone and character used)

*Russian:*
хуй  (khuy) 
dick, cock 

The Chinese hui is pronounced almost exactly as хуй , which causes both embarassment and laugh with Russian (and Slavic) learners of Chinese.


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## panjabigator

Constipado in Spanish is ill in English.  I remember my high school spanish teacher telling me she was caught off guard when she was studying abroad in high school and someone asked her if she is constipada.

Embarezada en Spanish is pregnant, not embarrassed.

In Panjabi and Hindi, /khiir/ (kheer) is a sweet rice pudding.  In Farsi, it's penis!

In Panjabi, /lund/ is penis.  And then of course there is the city, London...nyuk nyuk nyuk!


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## Anatoli

panjabigator said:


> ...
> In Panjabi and Hindi, /khiir/ (kheer) is a sweet rice pudding.  In Farsi, it's penis!


I wonder if Russian "хер" (kher)  is of the same origin (means the same as in Farsi!).


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## panjabigator

Must have a common root. We should look into it


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## samanthalee

Let me add....


zaigucis said:


> latvian mati (hair plural)
> croatian mati (parent)
> 
> 
> jazyk said:
> 
> 
> 
> And Greek μάτι means eye.
> 
> 
> 
> Malay mati (die)
> 
> latvian laka (varnish)
> polish laka (meadow)
> Malay lakar (sketch)
> 
> latvian, slovak, croatian, swedish skola (school)
> lithuanian skola (debt)
> icelandic skola (flush, irrigate)
> Malay sekolah (school)
> 
> 
> latvian ola (egg)
> irish, scottish ola (oil)
> lithuanian ola (cave)
> portuguese ola (motor pool)
> spanish ola (wave)
> Malay olah (attitude)
Click to expand...


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## samanthalee

I'll add more....


zaigucis said:


> latvian suka (brush)
> finnish suka (currycomb)
> polish, slovak suka (bitch)
> russian сука (bitch)
> Malay suka (like/enjoy)
> 
> latvian kaka (shit)
> swedish kaka (cake)
> hungarian kaka (rush)
> Malay kaka (elder sister)


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## samanthalee

Anatoli said:


> Chinese vs Russian:
> 
> *Chinese Mandarin:*
> hui (has a lot of meaning depending on the tone and character used)
> 
> *Russian:*
> хуй (khuy)
> dick, cock
> 
> The Chinese hui is pronounced almost exactly as хуй , which causes both embarassment and laugh with Russian (and Slavic) learners of Chinese.


 
Oh my...what the...  Remind me never to utter my given name in Russia... Just think, my mother yelling my name across the street...it cannot bear imagining...


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## optimistique

Anatoli said:


> dick, cock


 
Dutch:

*dik = *fat
*kok* = cook


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## dificilima

A friend once related an incident about working with a group of Japanese in Kenya.  Apparently, many Japanese names, while not perfect cognates, are close enough to rude and funny words in Swahili that they had to stop introducing most of the Japanese visitors by their real names (becoming instead, Mr. Director of the X of Y) in public gatherings.  Would love to  get more details on that .


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## dificilima

Russian malako (*молоко*)=milk -> Thai malago (มะละกอ)=papaya
English push -> Portuguese puxe=pull


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## eno2

#24: IMMU is not the same as immune....


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## Red Arrow

Dutch:
*vrede* = peace
wrede = cruel (in Belgium, wr- is pronounced the same as vr-)

Swedish:
fred = peace
*vrede* = anger


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## aum34

ergaster said:


> _Io vo_ is not wrong, although it is used only in Tuscany. _Io vado_ is the common form.
> 
> 
> Other false cognates:
> 
> burro (IT)= butter - burro (ES)= donkey
> 
> aceto (IT)= vinegar - aceite (ES)= oil
> (At an Italian restaraunt every time a Spaniard asks for oil they bring him vinegar and viceversa )
> 
> largo (IT)= wide - largo (ES)= long
> 
> officina (IT)= workshop - oficina (ES)= office
> 
> tenda (IT)= tent - tienda (ES)= shop but tienda de acampada= tent
> carpa (IT)= carp (fish) - carpa (ES)= tent, fish (also)
> 
> 
> As for other roman languages, there are false cognates with _sopportare, sostenere, subire _and_ salire_
> There are many false cognates between Japanese and Italian too.



SEMBRARE (IT. from lat. SIMILARE/SIMULARE ) =to seem/ to look like    and     SEMBRAR (SP: from lat. SEMINARE)= to sow 

PRONTO (from lat. PROMPTUS)
it. ready
sp. soon

SALIRE/SALIR (lat. SALIRE)
it. to go up
sp. to go out

SUBIRE/ SUBIR (lat. SUBIRE)
it. to suffer, to undergo
sp. to go up

TOPO
it. mouse
sp. mole

GUARDARE/ GUARDAR
it. to look
sp. to keep, to guard

A CÂȘTIGA/ CASTIGAR

Romanian ->_ a CÂȘTIGA   to win
Spanish -> Castigar     to punish_

AMAR

Ro.  Bitter  (Amargo in Spanish)
Sp. to love

CALE / CALLE (from lat. CALLIS)

Ro. path
Sp. street




zaigucis said:


> spanish *hui *sounds like russian *хуй* (xuy)- slang dick (very popular rude word, like english fuck - widely used, it can have any meaning, depending on the context)



Hui   does not exist in Spanish, only exist Hoy (Today) but h is mute in Spanish so it would sound like "Oy"


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## Dymn

I guess the topic of the thread is not "false cognates" anymore...


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## ilocas2

I think some onomatopoeic words are false cognates because they're not etymologically related and they arose independently.

Czech: kvákat

English: quack
German: quaken


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## aum34

Dymn said:


> I guess the topic of the thread is not "false cognates" anymore...



So obviously I missunderstood the thread and wrote "False Friends", sorry for that!



> *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.[1] For example, the English word _dog_ and the Mbabaram word _dog_ have the exact same meaning, but by complete coincidence. This is different from false friends, which are similar-sounding words with different meanings, but which may in fact be etymologically related. (For example: Spanish _dependiente_ looks like _dependent_, but means employee.)


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