misinterpret

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-

English interpret

English misinterpret

From mis- + interpret.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Australia) IPA^(key): /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɜː.pɹɪt/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌmɪs.ɪnˈtɝ.pɹɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

misinterpret (third-person singular simple present misinterprets, present participle misinterpreting, simple past and past participle misinterpreted)

1. To make an incorrect interpretation; to misunderstand.
   • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 October 2013:

     For Ralph, any encouragement is too much. When Lisa gives Ralph a valentine bearing that locomotive pun that so affected The Simpsons’ showrunner, Ralph misinterprets the gesture as a genuine display of romantic interest rather than a gesture of pity from a thoughtful young geek to a friendless goober.

Derived terms

• misinterpretable
• misinterpretation
• misinterpreter

Translations

to interpret wrongly — see also misunderstand

• French: mésinterpréter (fr)
• Galician: malinterpretar
• German: missverstehen (de)
• Greek: παρερμηνεύω (el) (parerminévo)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mistolke, feiltolke

  Nynorsk: mistolke, feiltolke

• Polish: błędnie interpretować impf, błędnie zinterpretować pf
• Spanish: malinterpretar (es)
• Swedish: misstolka (sv), misstyda (sv), feltolka (sv), vantolka (sv)
• Telugu: వక్రీకరించు (vakrīkariñcu)

See also

• misunderstand