untrue

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English untrewe,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English untrēowe (“unfaithful”), also ungetrēowe,^{[5][6][2][7][8]} formed with the prefix un- (“not”) and trēowe (“true, faithful”).^[2][3][9] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *untriwwiz.^[10] It has cognates across Germanic:^[11][5] West Frisian ûntrou, Middle Dutch ongetrouwe, Dutch ontrouw, Middle Low German ungetruwe, Old High German ungitriuwi, German untreu, Old Norse útryggr and Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (untriggws).^[5][9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of people, unfaithful or disloyal: in the Old English laws of Cnut, of a man untrue to the hundred.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old English and early Middle English the word was used of people who broke faith with friends, kin, a lord or a lover.^[9][5] About 1220 it was also applied to things that were not straight or exact, and about 1370 to statements contrary to fact, the sense that is now the most common.^[5][9] Langland used it in 1393 for dishonest or unjust.^[5] Chaucer used the adjective 23 times and Gower 21 times.^[12] Johnson (1755) put "false; contrary to reality" first and "false; not faithful" second, quoting Suckling and Dryden for the latter.^[13] An adverb untrue, untruly, is recorded from before 1350, and Chaucer wrote that a teller must repeat a tale exactly or else telle his tale untrewe.^[5][4]

Timeline

• Old English – of people, unfaithful, in the laws of Cnut.^[5][8]
• c. 1220 – not straight or exact.^[5]
• before 1350 – adverb, untruly.^[5]
• c. 1370 – contrary to fact, false.^[5][9]
• 1393 – dishonest, unjust, in Langland's Piers Plowman.^[5]
• c. 1541 – improper, imperfect.^[5][14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not in keeping with the facts; false or incorrect: The rumour about the merger proved untrue.^[15][2][5]
2. Not faithful; disloyal, especially to a partner: He had been untrue to his promises.^[15][2][5]
3. Not agreeing with a standard or measure; not level or exact: an untrue door frame.^[15][2][5]

Adverb

1. (obsolete) Untruly.^[2][5]

Word family

• untruly
• untrueness

Related words

• true
• truth
• untruth
• trow
• trust

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
4. ^ 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)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins