misread

Etymology

It is formed from English mis- + read.^[2][3][4][5] In its revised entry (2002) the OED records the adjective, "misinterpreted", slightly earlier than the verb.^[2] Middle English had misreden (“to give bad or false advice, to mislead”) from about 1200,^[3][6] and the Middle English Dictionary compares Old English misrǣdan.^[6] The OED holds that there is probably no continuity between the modern verb and the older one formed in the same way, which is recorded in the sense "to misinterpret" only in Old English.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective, meaning misread or misinterpreted, is first recorded in 1601, in N. Breton's No Whippinge, nor Trippinge;^[2] the verb, to read or interpret wrongly, in 1612, in M. Drayton's Poly-Olbion.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to 1658,^[4] Etymonline to 1714,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1800–10^[7] and the Shorter Oxford to the early 19th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb covered both reading a text wrongly and misinterpreting something, such as a situation or someone's feelings; the OED treats these as one sense, occasionally used without an object.^[2][5] Etymonline glosses it as "read wrongly, mistake the sense or significance of".^[3] The verbal noun misreading is attested by 1727 for an erroneous citation or a misinterpretation,^[3] while the Shorter Oxford dates misreading and misreader to the mid 19th century.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged quotes 20th-century writers who misread a signal, a book or the lesson of history.^[4]

Timeline

• 1601 – adjective, misread, misinterpreted.^[2]
• 1612 – verb, to read or interpret wrongly.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to 1658 and Etymonline to 1714.^[4][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To read something incorrectly: She misread the timetable and missed the last bus.^[8][4][2]
2. To interpret something wrongly, such as a situation, a remark or a person's feelings: He misread her silence as agreement.^[8][4][2]

Word family

• misreader

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins