English vs German: same word, different meanings
I got this idea from Ramnords post FUN WITH WORDS.
Please note that the words below are the same only in writing but not in pronunciation. Still interesting and fun to know it, though.
WORD | MEANING in ENGLISH | MEANING in GERMAN |
|---|
| GIFT | a present | poison |
| DANK | chilly wet | gratefulness, thanks |
| STARK | bare, grim, harsh | strong |
| KIND | nice, generous | a child |
| HUT | small building | a hat |
| ROCK | a stone; to move back and forth | a skirt |
| STOCK | a share in a company | a cane |
| MITTEN | a glove | in the middle |
| SAGE | a wise person | say [first person, present tense]; also a saga |
| LINKS | plural of link, connections | left [opposite to right] |
| TOLL | a charge for road usage | fantastic |
| BOOT | a tall shoe | boat |
| LUNGE | a sudden thrust | lung |
| GUT | intestine or stomach | good |
| MIST | light fog | dung, manure |
| NOT | in no way | an emergency |
| LAST | at the end | freight, burden |
| HANDY | easy to handle | cellular phone [new word] |
| MOST | superlative of many | apple cider [Southern Germany, Austria] |
| RIND | a tough outer covering, of cheese for example | an individual of cattle |
| LOT | a considerable quantity | a plumb |
| TALK | speak | talc |
| BAD | evil, harmful | bath |
| RAT | a rodent | advice |
| TRUNK | the nose of an elephant | a drink (together with some people) |
| LIED | past tense of “to lie” | a song |
| HALL | a large room | a short echo |
| FAST | quickly | almost |
| BRIEF | short | a letter |
| SAME | identical, e.g., at the same time | a seed |
| BALD | lacking of natural covering, e.g., hair | soon |
| SOLD | past tense of “to sell” | a soldier’s salary |
| LAG | to fall behind | past tense of “legen” (intransitive verb, i.e., lie) |
| GLUT | an oversupply | embers |
| LACK | to be deficient | lacquer |
| WAR | an armed conflict | past tense of “sein” (to be) |
| TOT | a small child | dead (adverb) |
| TOTE | to carry by hand as in tote-bag | dead (adjective) |
| GRAB | to seize | a grave |
| LIST | a sequence | craftiness |
| JAMMER | one that jams | misery |
| KIPPER | a fish cured in salt | a dump truck |
| STERN | firm and unyielding | a star |
| DICK | short form of Richard; colloquial for penis | stout, corpulent |
| SEE | to behold with your eyes | a lake |
| ART | The production of beautiful forms of sound or shape | a species |
| ANGEL | a spiritual being attendant upon God | a fishing rod |
| BAT | A flying mammal; a wooden club | past tense of “bitten” (to ask for something) |
| HAT | a head covering | third person present tense for “haben” (to have) |
| MUTTER | to speak indistinctly in a low voice | mother |
| LEG | a lower extremity in a human | imperative for “legen” (to lay) |
| LOG | the fallen trunk of a tree | past tense of “lügen” (to lie) |
| TEE | a t-shaped peg to place a golf ball on | tea |
| MADE | past tense of “to make” | a maggot |
| SUCH | As in “such as” | imperative for “suchen” (to search) |
| LURCH | to roll or pitch suddenly | a salamander |
| MARK | a sign or visible impression | marrow (like “Knochenmark” bone-marrow) |
| QUALM | a sensation of doubt, uneasiness (“to have no qualms about it”) | thick smoke |
| MAUL | to bruise or tear (“mauled by a wild animal”) | the mouth of an animal (“das Maul halten” to shut up) |
Do you know also such words with a different meaning in your language ????
If yes, just tell us, please!!!
Comments
Hahaha, dear Olga. Funny, funny!!! I like your humor.
Hahaha...a given gift isn't a gift in German...it's poison...but it's given...hahaha. I like this kind of wordplay.
Thanks for your humorous contribution.
Thanks for your detailed explanation, Mishaikh.
The English language is considered an Indo-European language, so its origin is very close to the German language, but the English increasingly developed in a different direction, and in the scientific division is closer to the Mandarin than to the actual related languages. The history of English goes back to the 5th century AD when England was conquered by various Germanic tribes, including the Angles and the Saxons. During this time, English was formed, from which later the name England was derived. The resulting Old English, which was spoken into the 11th Century, had much more similarities with the other Indo-European languages, including the German.
The European languages have Indian roots. (6000-3000 years before the Christian time counting.)
Influences from other languages have developed and changed the languages throughout history. That continues to this day.
Wow, Rose,...such a great and detailed work!!! I am impressed!!!. And most of all I like the word "gift"...lol..and if to think... both must have the same roots ))) "To give someone"...only depends what..and to whom...heh
Thank you. I will never think the same about the words GIFT and NOT anymore.
You did a really nice work Rose to compile these words.
English and Urdu are somewhat same in nature.
Urdu contains most of Arabic, Persian and Turkish words. (Urdu is itself a Turkish word).
Similarly English has borrowed words from Latin, Spanish, Greeks French Even from Arabic and Urdu like mother - maather in Persian and Arabic, Father as paither in Persian.
Most of the words you mentioned is one syllable, while Indonesian words are mostly more than one.
Interesting to know it.
Hi Rose!
Wow! What a long list! I may not remember it right now, lol. But, let me see...
'Rock' (ROK in Indonesian) means skirt. We have the same meaning for this. :))
'Angel' means difficult in Javanese (my local language) :D
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Estanis. Nice ones!!! Reading the meanings of such words, is always funny and interesting.
Thanks for telling us.
Yes Rose, we must be careful with such possible misunderstandings, sometimes they took me to odd even funny situations. At school teachers taught us they are 'false friends' English words same or similar to Spanish but different meaning. These are some common false friends:
Thanks, bet, AG, Fizzy, for stopping by and leaving your comments on my post.
Fizzy, hahaha...I just imagine that. You are right. It would be funny.
my language is different. We used it as the same as English meaning. Its interesting though.. if someone whois not fluent in English meet English speaker and talk.. that would be totally messed up.. ^^
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next