A pair of consists of two words in different Languages that appear to be or are sometimes considered Cognates (words in different languages with a common Root ) when they are in fact not. Note that even false cognates may have an indirect connection between them, even if they lack a common root.
- guduga''). Similarly, in the Japanese Language the word 'to occur' happens to be ''okoru''. Sometimes, words merge, e.g. Finnish ''piikki'' seems like a cognate to ''spike'', but when it has the meaning " Cusp of a graph", the cognate is ''peak''.
The basic kinship terms Mama And Papa comprise a special case of false cognates (cf. !Kung ''ba'', Chinese ''bàba'', Persian ''baba'', and French ''papa'' (all "dad"); or Navajo ''má'', Chinese ''māma'', Swahili ''mama'', Quechua "mama", and English "mum/mom"). The striking cross-linguistical similarities between these terms are thought to result from the nature of Language Acquisition ( Jakobson 1962). According to Jakobson, these words are the first word-like sounds made by babbling babies; and parents tend to associate the first sound babies make with themselves. Thus, there is no need to ascribe the similarities to common ancestry. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that these terms are built up from speech sounds that are easiest to produce ( Bilabial Stops like ''m'' and ''b'' and the basic Vowel ''a''). However, variants do occur; for example, in Fijian , the word for "mother" is ''nana'', and in Old Japanese , the word for "mother" was ''papa'' (the modern word ''haha'' "mother" is the descendant of the older word). Furthermore, the modern Japanese word for "father," ''chichi'', is from older ''titi.'' See Mama And Papa for more information.
The term "false cognate" is sometimes misused to describe ).
The opposite of a false cognate is an Expressive Loan , which looks like a native construction, but is not.
- Arabic ''akh'' (brother) and Mongolian ''akh'' (brother)
- Bikol ''aki'' (child) and Korean ''agi'' (child)
- Blackfoot ''aki'' (woman) and Even ''akhi'' (woman)
- Arabic ''ana'' (I) and Gondi ''ana'' (I)
- Arabic ''anta'' (you, singular) and Japanese ''anata'' (you, singular)
- Arabic ''ard'' (earth) and Dutch ''aard'' (earth)
- English ''earth'' and Hebrew ''erets'' (land)
- Hebrew ''ari'' (lion) and Tamil ''ari'' (lion)
- Kyrgyz ''ayal'' (woman) and Parji ''ayal'' (woman)
- Ga ''ba'' (come) and Hebrew ''ba'' (come)
- English ''bad'' and Persian ''bad''
- English ''chop'' and Uzbek ''chop''
- English ''dog'' and Mbabaram ''dog''
- English ''house'' and Hungarian ''ház'' (house, block of flats) (the Hungarian word has corresponding counterparts in other Uralic Languages )
- English ''it'', Russian ''eto'' and Tagalog ''eto'' / ''ito'' (it, this),
- English ''pan'' and Mandarin Chinese ''pan'' (pan, shallow plate)
- English ''can'' and Japanese ''kan'' (cylindrical metal container)
- Hebrew ''kehunah'' (priesthood) and Hawaiian ''kahuna'' (priest)
- English ''vagina'', and Hawaiian and Maori ''wahine'' (woman)
- English ''mount'' (short form of "mountain"), and Hawaiian ''mauna'' (mountain)
- English ''trawl'' (to fish by dragging a net) and English ''troll'' (to fish by trailing a line)
- Japanese ''arigato'' (thanks) and Portuguese ''obrigado'' (thank you)
- Mandarin "shítou" (stone; Traditional 石頭, Simplified 石头) and English "stone"
- Mandarin "tā" (他) and Estonian "ta" (short form of "tema") (he/she)
- Estonian ''mina'' and Zulu ''mina'' (I)
- Japanese ''miru'' (to look) and Spanish ''mirar'' (to look for, to watch)
- Russian ''baba'' and Japanese ''baba'' (disrespectful term meaning "old hag")
- Russian ''doroga'' (road) and Hebrew ''dereh'' (road)
- English ''evaporate'' and Russian ''ispar'at' '' (evaporate)
- English ''hut'' and Russian ''hata'' (hut)
- Russian ''krest'' (cross) and German ''kreuz'' (cross)
- Hebrew ''shesh'' (six) and Persian ''shesh'' (six)
- English ''cold'' and Russian ''holod'' (cold)
- English ''cheek'' and Russian ''scheka'' (cheek)
- German haben / English have and Latin habere (have)
- Samoan ''le'' and French ''le'' (the)
- Pashto ''dwa'' (two) and Indonesian ''dua'' (two)
- Inuit '' Kayak '' and Turkish ''kaik''(rowing boat)
- Spanish ''Juanita'' (feminine diminutive form of "John") and Malay and Indonesian ''wanita'' (woman/female)
- Scottish Gaelic ''lasair'' (light beam, flame) and English '' Laser ''
- Jakobson, R. (1962) ‘Why “mama” and “papa”?’ In Jakobson, R. ''Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies'', pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.
- Geoff Parkes and Alan Cornell (1992), 'NTC's Dictionary of German False Cognates', National Textbook Company, NTC Publishing Group.
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