German Meinung vs. English meaning- Tricky False Friends in German and English

In part fourteen of our blog series on tricky false friends between German and English we will discuss the difference between two nouns- the German “Meinung” and the English “meaning”. Even though their spelling is very similar indeed, their translations are quite different.

Why meaning and Meinung should not be confused

Even though both nouns are derived from “meinen” (to mean), the German word “die Meinung” translates as “opinion”, while the English “meaning” is equivalent to “die Bedeutung” in German. So watch out; not least because we all know that in our 'digital age' we are being bombarded with a lot of opinions but they don't necessarily have any real meaning. Leaving you with that deep thought ;).

Some of our previous posts on false cognates clarified the German brav and the English brave, the difference between the German Bad and the English bad, and the German Chef and the English chef, and explained why schmuck wouldn't be considered as an insult by a German native speaker. 

On our German Language Blog "Auf Deutsch, bitte!", you will find posts on how long it takes to learn German, a review of language learning apps Duolingo, Memrise, Babbel, Quizlet, and Busuu, and a comparison between dict.leo, dict.cc, Linguee, and Collins online dictionaries,

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