False friends in Welsh

False friends or false cognates are words that sound and/or look the same in two languages but different meaning. There are many words in Welsh that have been borrowed from English, or which share a common root, but not all familiar sounding or looking words in Welsh mean the same as they do in English.

The following Welsh words look and/or sound like English words but have different meanings:

• At = to (at = am, ar, wrth, ger, yn)
• Bad = boat (bad = drwg)
• Ban = beacon (to ban = gwahardd; a ban = gwaharddiad)
• Barn = opinion (a barn = ysgubor)
• Bore = morning (to bore (make a hole) = tyllu; to bore (tire) = blino; bore (diameter/calibre) = tyllfedd; bore (boring person) = bôr; bore (wave) = eger)
• Brain = crows (a brain = ymenydd)
• Call = wise (to call = galw; a call = galwad)
• Ci = dog, but sounds like key (key = agoriad / allwedd)
• Cuddle = hiding place (cuddle = cwtsh)
• Dim = zero, nothing, not (dim (stupid) = twp;; dim (blunt) = pŵl; dim (unclear) = aneglur)
• Faint = how much/many? (to faint = llewygu)
• Hen = old (a hen = iâr)
• Hurt = stupid (hurt = dolur, niwed)
• Main = thin, slender (main = prif)
• Man = place (man = dyn)
• Moron = carrots / moron
• Mud = mute (mud = mwd)
• Nod = aim (to nod = amneidio; a nod = amnaid)
• Pan = when (pan = padell)
• Pant = hollow (to pant = dyhefod)
• Pen = head / pen
• Pig = beak (a pig = moch)
• Pump = five, but sounds like pimp (a pump = pwmp)
• Sail = base, foundation (a sail = hwyl; to sail = hwylio)
• Tŷ = house, but sounds like tea (tea = te)

There are also a number of false friends between Welsh and Mandarin Chinese, including:

• cau = to close / closed – sounds like 開 [开] (kāi), to open / open
• gwan = weak – sounds like 關 [关] (guān), to close / closed
• bwgan = bogey – genie, ghost or goblin, sounds like 不敢 (bùgǎn), to dare
• gwe = web – sounds like 鬼 (guì), ghost