Where does “mistake” come from?

Mistake comes from Middle English mistaken, from Old Norse mistaka, meaning to take wrongly.

mistake (English): To understand wrongly, taking one thing or person...

Definitions

  1. To understand wrongly, taking one thing or person...

Ancestry of “mistake”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmistaken—
2Old Norsemistakato take in error, to miscarry

Words derived from “mistake”

Every word from Old Norse mistaka →Every word from Middle English mistaken →