False friend
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In linguistics, a false friend is a word in a different language that looks or sounds similar to a word in a given language, but differs significantly in meaning. Examples of false friends include Eng
An example of a West Slavic shared etymology. In Czech and Slovak, čerstvé pečivo means 'fresh baked goods', in Polish, czerstwe pieczywo means 'stale bread', in Ukrainian, черстве печиво (čerstve pečyvo) means 'hardened cookie (bakery)', and in Russian, chyorstvy means "stale" again.
Mere (lake)
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In Great Britain, a mere is a lake, pond, or wetland, often shallow.
False friend
…but shifts in meaning of words with a shared etymology have in some instances resulted in 'bi-directional false friends': German Dutch English See meer mere (lake) Meer zee sea Note that the Low German die See means 'sea', and thus is not a false friend. German Dutch English mögen houden van like dürfen…
Windermere, viewed from the north