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 mistakaEvery word from Middle English mistaken