This article focuses on the linguistic phenomenon faux amis (false friends, false cognates) in Slavic languages, i.e., words that share a common signifier but a different signified (meaning). The main aim is to provide a short historical background of the concept and a brief list of the Slavic terminology in use, as well as an overview of the criteria applied to identify them (e.g., origin and potential interference).

False friends – words in two or more languages showing a common form but having a different meaning – are a linguistic phenomenon of concern to bo…