Understood or interpreted something incorrectly or in the wrong way.
From 'mis-' (prefix meaning 'wrongly') plus 'construe' (from Latin 'construere,' meaning 'to build together'). The idea is that your understanding is 'built wrong' from the start.
The root 'construe' originally meant 'to build together'—so when you misconstrue something, you're literally 'building together' the wrong meaning, like assembling a model with instructions for a different product!
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