False friends – 01: eekhoorn vs acorn

Transcript of the video lesson – eekhoorn vs acorn:

Hi there, welcome to learndutch.org’s false friends.

False friends are words from different languages that sound or look the same, but have a different meaning. Such as the english word “acorn”, which sounds like the dutch word: “eekhoorn”.

But these are different things. They are false friends.

An acorn, is the the nut from an oak. In Dutch we say “eikel”.

Attention with this word, because there is a male intimate body part with the same shape that is also called like this. And therefore the word “eikel” is also used as a swearword. Use it only if you very clearly want to indicate you don’t like someone.

The Dutch word “eekhoorn” is this animal, in english: squirrel. Now the coincidence is that the squirrels eat acorns!

To describe the picture:

Deze eekhoorn heeft een eikel.

This squirrel has an acorn.

So “acorn” and “eekhoorn” are false friends. But now you know it, so you probably won’t make the mistake!

Check out our channel for more videos to learn Dutch.

See you there!