misattribution
|mis-at-tri-bu-tion|
/ˌmɪsəˈtrɪbjuːʃən/
wrong assignment (to a source)
Etymology
'misattribution' originates from the English prefix 'mis-' (meaning 'wrong' or 'badly') combined with 'attribution,' which comes from Latin 'attribuere' (from 'ad-' meaning 'to/toward' + 'tribuere' meaning 'to give').
'mis-' is a Germanic/Old English prefix used to indicate error; 'attribuere' in Latin led to Medieval Latin 'attributio' and then to Old French/Latin-influenced Middle English 'attribution,' eventually yielding the modern English 'attribution' and the compound 'misattribution'.
Initially, related forms centered on the neutral idea of 'assigning' or 'giving' (from 'tribuere'), but over time the compound with 'mis-' came to specifically mean 'assigning to the wrong source' — the current sense of 'misattribution'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the act or result of attributing something (a statement, work, cause, etc.) to the wrong source or person.
The museum corrected the misattribution of the painting after discovering new evidence about its origin.
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Noun 2
(Psychology) A memory error in which a memory is assigned to the wrong source (also known as a source-monitoring error).
The study investigated how misattribution can cause people to remember hearing a fact from a trusted friend when they actually read it online.
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Last updated: 2025/09/22 09:23