Mistake

How to spell mistake

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mistake

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mistake mean?

1. nounAn action or judgement that is wrong or misguided, an error.
2. verbTo identify someone or something wrongly, or to misunderstand a situation.

Mistake in a sentence

• noun

  The accountant spotted a small mistake in the quarterly figures.

• verb

  Strangers often mistake the twins for one another at first glance.

• noun

  Leaving the keys in the car was a costly mistake.

• verb

  Do not mistake his quiet manner for a lack of interest.

Where does mistake come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This word comes from the Old Norse mistaka, which literally meant 'to take in error' or 'to take wrongly', combining the prefix mis- 'wrongly, amiss' with taka 'to take or grasp'. It entered English in the 1300s, first as a verb meaning to take or understand something incorrectly, and the noun sense of 'an error' followed somewhat later. The 'take' element here is the very same Old Norse root that gives us the everyday verb 'take', so the word is in effect 'a wrong taking', a grasping of the wrong thing. The prefix mis- is one of the most productive in English, attaching to many native verbs to mean 'badly' or 'wrongly', as in misjudge, misread, and misunderstand. Because the spelling simply joins two familiar parts, mis and take, it holds few surprises, which is why it rarely trips up fluent writers.

How the word is built

• mis- (wrongly)
• take (from Old Norse taka: to take, grasp)