Miscategorize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To assign something to the wrong group, class, or category when it does not belong there
2. Placing an item, person, or idea under a mistaken label or classification by error
3. Sorting or labeling something incorrectly so that it falls into the wrong category

Etymology: The Greek root behind "miscategorize" is "katēgoria", which meant an accusation or charge in ancient Greek courts, from "katēgorein", to accuse someone publicly. Its literal sense was something like "speak against" in the marketplace, since "agora" was where such charges were made. Aristotle later used the word for the fundamental classes into which things can be sorted, and that philosophical sense passed through Late Latin "catēgoria" and Middle French "categorie" before reaching English as "category" in Middle English. The legal idea of an accusation thus became the modern idea of a sorting bin. "Categorize" was formed in English from "category" with the verb-forming suffix "-ize", borrowed through Late Latin and Middle French from Greek "-izein". "Miscategorize" is simply that verb with the prefix "mis-", from Old English, meaning wrongly or badly, so it means to place something in the wrong class.

Synonyms: misclassify, mislabel, misfile, misidentify

Antonyms: categorize, classify