English → Latin
“false” in Latin
adulterīnusadulterous, unchaste; not genuine, false, counterfeit, impurefallōto deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude, ensnare, disappoint; to mistake, be mistaken, deceive oneself; to escape the subdōto put, place, set or lay under; set to or apply under; to bring under, subject, subdue; expose; to bring on, furnish, ssuppōnōto put, place under; to subject (to); to falsifyaliēnusOf that which belongs to another person, place, or object—of another, alien, foreign; unfriendly, inimical, hostile, sussimulōto make like, simulate, imitate, copy, represent; to feign, pretend; to behave or act (as if, as though)fūcōto colour, paint, dye; to embellish, dissemble, falsifyfūcōsuspainted, coloured, beautified; fake, counterfeit, spuriousfallāxdeceptive, deceitful; fallacious, spuriousēmentiorto lie; to fabricate, pretend, feign
The English word false itself goes back to Latin fallō, through falsus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
false
(1) (1) Not genuine, adulterinus (counterfeit; opposed to verus, bonus; as a key, money, a seal, etc.): falsus (forged, falsified; opposed to verus). (The words are found in this connection and order.) falsus et corruptus (e.g., a letter): subditus: suppositus (supposititious, as a will, etc.): alienus (that does not belong to us; e.g., libellos sub alieno nomine edere, Suet., Oct., 55): simulatus (feigned, pretended; opposed to verus; e.g., joy, friendship, piety): fucatus: fucosus (that has only an outward good appearance; opposed to sincerus, probus; e.g., goods, friendship, etc.): fallax (deceitful, cheating; e.g., hope). (The words are found in this connection and order.) fallax et fucosus (e.g., goods): ementitus (made as a lying imitation of the true thing). (The words are found in this connection and order.) ementitus et fictus (Cic.). False teeth, dentes empti (Martisalis, 14, 56): false hair, capillamentum: in a false manner, [Vid: FALSELY].
Not upright, not true, falsus (general term, who is not what he appears to be, not open-hearted): fallax (that is used to cheat and deceive, deceitful): fraudulentus (that has a disposition to cheat, and accordingly does cheat): dolosus (that proceeds or acts unconscientiously and deceitfully). How false thou art! ut falsus es animi! (Ter., Eun., 2, 2, 43). (2) Not true, falsus (e.g., intelligence, news, suspicion, hope, witness, testimony; a prophet, vates, Liv.; friends, Plant.; judgements, opinions, charges, Hor.): fictus (feigned): commenticius (imaginary); (The words are found in this connection and order.) falsus fictusque (e.g., witnesses, testes). A false oath, perjurium: to take a false oath, perjurare; pejerare (to take a false oath with the will or designedly; not to be confounded with falsum jurare; i. e., net designedly, unintentionally, in the belief that the thing is really so; Vid: Cic., Off., 2, 29, 108). (3) Not right, not so as the thing ought to be, falsus.: *perperam or male positus (wrongly put, as a number, word): false measure, mensura non justa: a false weight, *pondus vulgari levius (too light; but pondus iniquum, Verg. Georg., 1, 164, = immoderately heavy): a false note, falsa vocula (Cic., De Or., 3, 25, 98). A false step, error (a mistake); lapsus (a slip): to make a false step, errare; labi. A false key, clavis adulterina (opposed to clavis vera, Sall., Jug., 12, 3). To sing a false note, *dissonum quiddam cantare: to give a false interpretation of anything, perperam interpretari (☞ not male interpretari = to put an unfavorable construction on).
Untrue, faithless, Vid: To play anybody false; Vid: To DECEIVE.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for false?
- The usual Latin words for “false” are adulterīnus, fallō, subdō; also suppōnō, aliēnus, simulō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.