Skip to the word

Added 8 October 2026

mistake

/mɪˈsteɪk/ verb

In Latin: fallor, fallo, oberro Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about mistake at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To understand wrongly, taking one thing or person for another.
Sorry, I mistook you for my brother. You look very similar.
To misunderstand (someone).
To commit an unintentional error; to do or think something wrong.

noun

An error.
There were too many mistakes in the test that, unfortunately, made you fail.
A pitch which was intended to be pitched in a hard-to-hit location, but instead ends up in an easy-to-hit place.

Origin

From Middle English mistaken, from Old Norse mistaka (“to take in error, to miscarry”); equivalent to mis- + take. Cognate with Icelandic mistaka (“to mistake”), Swedish missta (“to mistake”) (before apocope misstaga). The noun, which replaced earlier mistaking, is derived from the verb. Compare Swedish misstag (“mistake”, noun), Faroese mistak (“mitake”, noun), Icelandic mistak (“mistake”, noun).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word