Az álruhás herceg és a bátor hercegnő

What does the prefix “ál-” mean in Hungarian?

When the prince goes undercover, he puts on an álruha — a “disguise,” built from ál- (“false, fake, pseudo-”) plus ruha (“clothing”). The prefix ál- is a productive little factory for fakery: attach it to almost any noun to mean a counterfeit version of that thing. Learn ál- once and a whole shelf of “fake-X” words suddenly becomes readable on sight.

The same prefix gives álarc (“false-face,” a mask), álnév (“false-name,” a pseudonym or alias), álhír (“fake news”), and áldoktor (a quack, a “false doctor”). The adjective from álruha is álruhás, “disguised, in disguise,” as in the reel’s title. Note: ál- (false) is unrelated to áll (“to stand”) despite looking similar.