「假」這個狀態
這一支就是字面本身：false 加上 -hood，不多不少。
noun · C1
The quality of not being true; the opposite of truth, often talked about together with it.
虛假；不實（的性質）
核心畫面
You can think of falsehood as false with a room built around it. The ending -hood is the one in childhood and neighbourhood: it takes a quality and holds it still so you can talk about it. So the picture underneath the word is simply the state of not being true. From there the word moves outward twice. Put that state inside one sentence and you get a falsehood, a single claim you can count. Put it inside a person's habits and you get falsehood, lying as a way of behaving.
falsehood 可以想成 false 外面蓋了一間房子。字尾 -hood 跟 childhood、neighbo…更多收起
falsehood 可以想成 false 外面蓋了一間房子。字尾 -hood 跟 childhood、neighbourhood 裡的是同一個，作用是把一個性質固定下來，讓人可以談論它。所以這個字底下的畫面，一種想法是「不是真的」這個狀態本身。從這裡它往外走了兩步。把這個狀態裝進一句話裡，就成了可數的 a falsehood，一句假話。把它裝進一個人的習慣裡，就成了 falsehood，說謊這種作風。From the word’s history
The source gives Middle English falshede, from false + -hede, equivalent to false + -hood, which lines up exactly with the state-of-being-false reading.
來源記載它來自中古英文 falshede，由 false 加上 -hede（即今天的 -hood）組成。這正好對上「假的那個狀態」這個讀法。
Wiktionary (kaikki extract, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:586457072): From Middle English falshede, from false + -hede, equivalent to false + -hood.
Three branches
裝進一句話裡
把那個抽象狀態放進某一句具體的話，狀態就變成一件可以數、可以指出來的東西。
noun · C1
A statement that is not true, especially one that the speaker or writer knows is not true.
不實的話；謊言
裝進一個人的習慣裡
同一個狀態不落在一句話上，而落在一個人的作風上，就成了「說謊」這件事本身。
noun · C1
The practice of telling lies, thought of as a way of behaving rather than as one untrue statement.
說謊（這種作風）