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falso

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word falso

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
950–1000 Glosas Silenses More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin falsus via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin fallō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fallō
Italian fallire
Italian fallo
Latin falsus
French faux
English faux
Italian falso
Spanish falso
English false
From the same root
Latin fallāx ← fallō
Latin refellō ← fallō
Latin falsificō ← falsus
Latin falsō ← falsus
Latin falsum ← falsus
English falsehood ← false

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfalso/, [ˈfal.so][1]

Forms

falso (feminine falsa, masculine plural falsos, feminine plural falsas, superlative falsísimo)[1] Old Spanish also wrote falsso.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish falso, inherited from Latin falsus (“false”), properly the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”).[4][5][6][1][7] The same Latin word is Portuguese falso, Catalan fals, Occitan fals, French faux and Italian falso.[8][9]

The word kept its /f-/ and the group /al/ before a consonant, which in popular words usually changed.[4][1] Corominas explains both by the speech of the educated classes: the word was much used in moral judgements, above all by the clergy, whose speech was more careful; he compares falta.[4][1] Prat Sabater notes that Corominas applies the same explanation to saltar, calza and that word.[4][10] Meyer-Lübke's REW instead takes the Spanish and Portuguese words from Occitan or Catalan.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word in the Glosas Silenses of the second half of the 10th century and then in the Cantar de mio Cid.[4][5] In the Cid it means “deceitful, treacherous”, and, as a noun, “false testimony”.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish falso described deceitful or treacherous people as well as untrue statements.[2] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for an imitation stone, telling how to test which diamond is genuine and which falsa.[11] Covarrubias in 1611 lists a false friend, false coin, a false weight, a building without proper foundations and false writings, and the phrase embidar de falso, to bluff at cards.[12] The Autoridades (1732) quotes the Fuero Juzgo and the Recopilación for false names and false cloth.[13]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary adds a horse or mule with hidden vices that kicks without being touched, and false measures and weights.[14] In 1817 the Academy recorded falso in thieves' slang for the hangman.[15] As a noun the word names a reinforcing piece sewn inside a garment.[6] In Mexico and Central America un falso is a slander or a lie, as in levantar falsos; in Chile it was used for the lower part of a woman's underskirt.[16][17][18]

Timeline

  • 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses.[4][5]
  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it for a traitor and for false testimony.[2][4]
  • c. 1140 – the derivative falsedad is first recorded.[5]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario calls an imitation diamond falsa.[11]
  • 1512 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico, for an imitation fabric.[19]
  • 1600 – first record of the verb falsear.[5]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias lists false coin, false weights and embidar de falso.[12]
  • 1732 – the Autoridades defines it as deceitful, feigned, lacking truth.[13]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary records the vicious horse.[14]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. feigned, sham: Me recibió con una cortesía falsa.[6][1]
  2. false, untrue, contrary to the truth.[6][1]
  3. Of a person: lying, deceitful, not showing what he or she really thinks; also as a noun.[6]
  4. counterfeit, fake: made in imitation of something genuine, usually to deceive.[6][1]
  5. Of a horse or mule: vicious, kicking even when not provoked.[6][14]
  6. (architecture and other crafts) Of a piece: making up for the lack of size or strength of another.[6]
  7. (Aragon, Navarre) Lazy, idle.[6]
  8. (colloquial, Cuba, Puerto Rico) Of a person: who takes little trouble to keep in touch with friends.[6][16]

Noun

  1. A piece of the same cloth sewn inside a garment where the seam takes most strain; the hem of a dress.[6]
  2. (Mexico, Central America, Venezuela) A slander, a lie.[16][17]
  3. (germanía) The hangman.[6][15]

Word family

  • falsear
  • falsedad
  • falsía
  • falsilla
  • falsete
  • falsar
  • falsario
  • falsificar
  • Latin falsus
  • fallar

Usage notes

The feminine falsa is a noun in Aragon, Murcia and Albacete, meaning an attic or hayloft, so called because it looks like the roof of the house but is not; in Aragon and Mexico it also names the ruled sheet placed under writing paper, otherwise falsilla.[4][6] The phrase en falso means “falsely, with an intention other than the one shown”, used above all of bluffing in card games.[6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 250
  3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. falso
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 841
  5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. falso
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. falso
  7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. falsus
  9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3171
  10. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 99
  11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. falso
  12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 829
  13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 714
  14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 486
  15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 409
  16. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. falso
  17. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 635
  18. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 354
  19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. falso

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Falso.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/falso. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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