Definition of cognate Cognate

cog•nate

We found 22 definitions of cognate from 7 different sources.

What does cognate mean?

WordNet

Noun Plural: cognates
cognate - a word is cognate with another if both derive from the same word in an ancestral language
		cognate word
		word a unit of language that native speakers can identify; "words are the blocks from which sentences are made"; "he hardly said ten words all morning"
cognate - one related by blood or origin; especially on sharing an ancestor with another
		blood relation, blood relative, sib
		relative, relation an animal or plant that bears a relationship to another (as related by common descent or by membership in the same genus)
Adjective cognate, cognater, cognatest
cognate - having the same ancestral language; "cognate languages"
		related to, related connected by kinship, common origin, or marriage
		linguistics the humanistic study of language and literature
cognate - related by blood
		akin, blood-related, consanguine, consanguineous, consanguineal, kin
		related connected by kinship, common origin, or marriage
cognate - related in nature; "connate qualities"
		connate

= synonym
= antonym
= related word

Wiktionary

cognate (Noun)
One of a number of things allied in origin or nature.
cognate (Noun)
One who is related to another on the female side.
cognate (Noun)
One who is related to another, both having descended from a common ancestor through legal marriages.
cognate (Noun)
A word either descended from the same base word of the same ancestor language as the given word, or strongly believed to be a regular reflex of the same reconstructed root of proto-language as the given word.
cognate (Adjective)
Allied by blood; kindred by birth; specifically related on the mother's side.
cognate (Adjective)
Of the same or a similar nature; of the same family; proceeding from the same stock or root; allied; kindred.
cognate (Adjective)
Either descended from the same attested source lexeme of ancestor language, or held on the grounds of the methods of historical linguistics to be regular reflexes of the unattested, reconstructed form of proto-language.

Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

cognate (a.)
Allied by blood; kindred by birth; specifically (Law), related on the mother's side.
cognate (a.)
Of the same or a similar nature; of the same family; proceeding from the same stock or root; allied; kindred; as, a cognate language.
cognate (n.)
One who is related to another on the female side.
cognate (n.)
One of a number of things allied in origin or nature; as, certain letters are cognates.

OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω

cognate
A word derived from the same roots as another word.
cognate
Genealogy: A blood relative in the female line.
cognate
One related by blood or origin with another, especially a person sharing an ancestor with another.

Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕

cognate
kog′nāt, adj. of the same family, kind, or nature: related or allied to.—n. one related by blood, a kinsman: a person related to another through the mother, as distinguished from an agnate, one related through the father.—n. Cognā′tion. [L. cognatus—co-, together, (g)nasci, (g)natus, to be born.]

Wikipedia

Cognate is a word derived from the same root as another word. Cognates are words that have a common origin (source). They may occur in a language or in a group of languages.

Example One: 'composite', 'composition' and 'compost' are cognates in the English language, derived from the same root in Latin 'componere' meaning 'to put together'.

Example Two: the word 'composition' in English and the word 'composición' in Spanish and similar words in French, Italian and Portuguese are cognates because they all come from the same root.

The general rule is that cognates have similar meanings and are derived from the same root (origin).

Basic English uses cognates in different languages.

Example: animal, attention, night, apparatus, experience, brother, invention, metal, etc.

History.

The word 'cognate' is derived from the Latin word 'cognatus' meaning 'to be born with'.

In reading Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples", it would be well to keep in mind (remember) what

George Bernard Shaw says: "England and America are two countries divided by a common language."

Speakers of British English and American English face this problem of meeting

False friends.

As a rule, cognates have the same meaning but when they do not, they are called "false friends".

Example one: Spanish 'actual' and English 'actual' are cognates because they have the same root (origin) but they are "false friends" because Spanish 'actual' means "of the present moment" while English 'actual' means "real".