untrue

English

Alternative forms

untrew (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Germanic *un-

Proto-Indo-European *drewH-der.

Proto-Germanic *triwwiz

Proto-Germanic *untriwwiz

Proto-West Germanic *untriuwī

Old English untrīewe

Middle English untrewe

English untrue

From Middle English untrewe, from Old English untrīewe, from Proto-West Germanic *untriuwī, from Proto-Germanic *untriwwiz. Equivalent to un- +‎ true.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtɹuː/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -uː

Adjective

untrue (comparative more untrue, superlative most untrue)

False; not true.
Synonyms: false, inaccurate, incorrect, unveridical, wrong; see also Thesaurus:false

Antonym: true

She says that I stole her necklace, but that's completely untrue.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 11:
  "I know it is true, for an untrue word never passed her lips."
- 2004, George Carlin, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎^[1], New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 264:
  This statement is untrue.
- 2025 July 6, Daniel De Simone, “How MI5 piled falsehood on falsehood in court in the case of a spy who abused women”, in BBC News‎^[2], retrieved 6 July 2025:
  The service aggressively maintained its position until I produced evidence proving it was untrue - including a recording of one of the calls with a senior MI5 officer.
Not faithful or loyal.
Synonyms: false, perfidious, unfaithful; see also Thesaurus:treacherous

Antonym: faithful
- 1953, Arthur Hamilton, “Cry Me a River”:
  Now you say you're sorry / For being so untrue / Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river
- 1971, “Let's Stay Together”, performed by Al Green:
  Let me be the one you come running to / I'll never be untrue
- 2019, “The Night You Didn't Come”, in Becoming Peter Ivers, performed by Peter Ivers:
  Tonight you didn't come / And my senses all were reeling / I had a certain scary feeling you'd been untrue

Derived terms

Collocations

nouns

untrue statement
untrue things
untrue story
untrue information
untrue words
untrue claims
untrue accusations
untrue rumors
untrue allegations
untrue picture
untrue reports
untrue man

adverbs

completely untrue
entirely untrue
patently untrue
absolutely untrue
totally untrue
so untrue
quite untrue
simply untrue
obviously untrue
clearly untrue
manifestly untrue

Translations

false

Bulgarian: грешен (bg) (grešen), неверен (bg) (neveren)
Danish: usand
Dutch: onwaar (nl)
Esperanto: malvera, nevera
Finnish: totuudenvastainen, paikkaansapitämätön (fi)
Georgian: არასწორი (arasc̣ori), არამართებული (aramartebuli), არამართალი (aramartali), არანამდვილი (aranamdvili), ცრუ (cru), ტყუილი (ka) (ṭq̇uili)
German: unwahr (de)
Greek:
Ancient Greek: ψευδής (pseudḗs)
Icelandic: rangur (is), ósannur (is)
Irish: ainfhíor
Italian: falso (it)
Latin: falsus
Māori: tahupera, meho, hāwatewate, rūkahu, rūpahu
Norwegian:
Bokmål: usann

Nynorsk: usann
Old English: unsōþ, untrēowe
Plautdietsch: onwoa, faulsch, ontru
Portuguese: falso (pt)
Sanskrit: असत्य (sa) (asatya)
Spanish: falso (es), incorrecto (es), inexacto (es), fatulo m (Puerto Rico)
Swedish: osann (sv)
Turkish: asılsız (tr)
Ottoman Turkish: یالان (yalan)

not faithful or loyal

Dutch: ontrouw (nl)
Finnish: uskoton (fi)
Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (untriggws)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} man-in-da