misattribute

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mey-?

Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-der.

Proto-Germanic *missaz

Proto-Germanic *missa-

Proto-West Germanic *missa-

Old English mis-

Middle English mys-

English mis-

Latin attributusbor.

English attribute

English misattribute

From mis- + attribute.

Verb

misattribute (third-person singular simple present misattributes, present participle misattributing, simple past and past participle misattributed)

1. To erroneously attribute; to falsely ascribe; used especially of authorship.

   Synonym: misascribe

   • 2026 May 19, Benjamin Mullin, quoting Meredith Broussard, “Book on Truth in the Age of A.I. Contains Quotes Made Up by A.I.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     “It looks like this is either an A.I. hallucination or a misattributed quote,” Ms. [Meredith] Broussard said.

     (Can we archive this URL?)