mischaracterize

English

Alternative forms

• mischaracterise

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-

Pre-Greekbor.?

Pre-Greekbor.?

Ancient Greek χαράκ-ι̯ω (kharák-i̯ō)?

Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō)

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Hellenic *-tḗr

Ancient Greek -τήρ (-tḗr)

Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr)

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ίζω (-ízō)

Ancient Greek χᾰρακτηρίζω (khăraktērízō)der.

Medieval Latin charactērizōder.

English characterize

English mischaracterize

From mis- + characterize.

Verb

mischaracterize (third-person singular simple present mischaracterizes, present participle mischaracterizing, simple past and past participle mischaracterized)

1. (transitive) To characterize falsely or mistakenly.

   Our small disagreement has been mischaracterized as a deep rift.

Derived terms

• mischaracterization