mentito

Mentito is an Italian term meaning “lied,” and it is the past participle of the verb mentire (to lie). It is used to indicate that someone has told a lie or that a statement is false. In standard Italian, mentito appears in compound tenses with the auxiliary avere, as in ho mentito, hai mentito, ha mentito, abbiamo mentito, avete mentito, hanno mentito.

As an adjective, mentito can describe something that has been lied about or is false, though in everyday usage adjectives such as falso or ingannevole are often preferred. The feminine form is mentita, and the plural forms are mentiti or mentite, depending on gender and number.

Etymology: mentito derives from Latin mentitus, the perfect participle of mentiri, passing into Italian through the history of the language.

Usage notes: Mentito is a standard, neutral term in both formal and informal Italian. It is not typically used as a noun; for that sense, Italian normally uses bugia or menzogna. In legal or journalistic writing, phrases like un’affermazione mentita may appear but are less common than alternatives such as un’affermazione falsa.

See also: mentire; bugia; menzogna.