Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “falsly” come from?

falsly (Middle English) comes from Middle English fals, from Old English fals, from Latin falsus, from Latin fallō, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰwel- — to bend; to lie, deceive.

Ancestry of “falsly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishfalsfalse
2Old Englishfalsfalsehood, fraud, counterfeit; false
3Latinfalsusdeceived, tricked, cheated, disappointed, having...
4Latinfallō—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰwel-to bend; to lie, deceive
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰwel- →