Mislead

How to spell mislead

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mislead

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mislead mean?

1. verbTo cause someone to believe something untrue, whether by giving wrong information or a false impression.

Mislead in a sentence

• The vague wording on the label can mislead shoppers about the price.

• The company did not intend to mislead investors with its forecast.

Where does mislead come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, built from the Old English verb mislǣdan, which joined the prefix mis-, meaning 'wrongly' or 'badly', to lǣdan, meaning 'to guide, conduct, or bring along a way'. The root lǣdan is the ancestor of the modern verb 'lead' and is related to the noun for a path or course, since to lead someone was literally to take them along a road. The mis- prefix is a thoroughly Germanic element shared with relatives such as 'mistake' and 'misguide', and it simply turns the good guidance of leading into faulty or deceptive guidance. The word has carried the sense of giving a false impression, deliberately or not, since the medieval period. The spelling trap is the present-tense vowel: 'mislead' keeps the 'ea' of 'lead' (the verb), while the past tense drops it to 'misled', mirroring lead and led exactly.

How the word is built

• mis- (wrongly, badly)
• lead (to guide or direct)