cognate

English

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Alternative forms

• cogn. (abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cognātus (“related by blood”), from com- + gnātus (“born”). Doublet of connate and cognatus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒɡn(e)ɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɡn(e)ɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

Examples (linguistics)

English mother is cognate with Greek μητέρα (mitéra), German Mutter, Russian мать (matʹ), Sanskrit मातृ (mā́tṛ), Avestan 𐬨𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭 (mātar) and Persian مادر (mâdar). English queen is cognate with quean, both of which are cognate with Russian жена́ (žená), Icelandic kona and Irish bean. English embarrassed is a true cognate of Spanish embarazada but is a false friend because the modern meanings differ. English much and Spanish mucho are false cognates because they came by their similar meanings via completely different Proto-Indo-European roots.

cognate (not comparable)

1. Allied by blood; kindred by birth; specifically (law) related on the mother's side.

   Synonyms: akin, same-blooded; see also Thesaurus:consanguine

2. Of the same or a similar nature; of the same family; proceeding from the same stock or root.

   Synonyms: allied, kindred, connate; see also Thesaurus:akin

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

     This explanation provoked further great hilarity among the members of the committee. And the frankness was admired by many with which Louit, on his return, confessed to having found, in the course of his excursion, three barns in all, of which two contained empty bottles and the third the skeleton of a goat. But in other quarters this and cognate statements were viewed in another and less friendly light.

3. (linguistics) Descended from the same source lexemes (same etymons) of an ancestor language.

Usage notes

“Cognate to” is much less common than “cognate with” and not even mentioned in most dictionaries.

Derived terms

• cognately
• cognateness
• cognation
• noncognate

Translations

kindred by birth

Bulgarian: родствен (bg) (rodstven) Czech: příbuzný (cs) Dutch: bloedverwant (nl) Georgian: ნათესავი (natesavi) German: kognat, blutverwandt Italian: congiunto (it) Manx: co-cheintagh, co-chynneydagh Marathi: सजातीय (sajātīy) Polish: pokrewny (pl) Spanish: emparentado (es), familiar (es)

descended from the same attested source lexeme of an ancestor language

Armenian: ազգակից (hy) (azgakicʻ) Azerbaijani: kökdaş, eyniköklü Bengali: সমগোত্রজ (śômogotroj) Bulgarian: родствен (bg) (rodstven), сроден (bg) (sroden) Chinese: Mandarin: 同源 (zh) (tóngyuán) Czech: příbuzný (cs), stejného původu Danish: kognat n Dutch: cognaat (nl) n, woordverwant m, wortelverwant m Finnish: olla sukua [jollekin] (literally: "to be family") French: apparenté (fr) Galician: cognado Georgian: მონათესავე (monatesave) German: verwandt (de), etymologisch verwandt, stammverwandt, urverwandt (de), wurzelverwandt (de) Greek: συγγενής (el) m or f (syngenís) Hungarian: rokon (hu) Icelandic: samstofna, skyldur Italian: affine (it), imparentato (it) Japanese: 同源 (ja) (dōgen) Malay: kognat, serumpun Manx: cocheintagh Portuguese: cognato (pt) Romanian: înrudit (ro) m Russian: ро́дственный (ru) (ródstvennyj), исконноро́дственный (iskonnoródstvennyj), однокоренно́й (ru) (odnokorennój) Slovene: istoizvoren Spanish: cognado (es) Swedish: kognat (sv) Turkish: kökteş (tr) Vietnamese: cùng gốc, đồng nguyên (同源), đồng căn (同根）

Noun

cognate (plural cognates)

1. One of a number of things allied in origin or nature.
2. (law, dated) One who is related to another on the female side.
3. (law, dated) One who is related to another, both having descended from a common ancestor through legal marriages.
4. (linguistics) A word either descended from the same base word of the same ancestor language as the given word, or judged to be a regular reflex of the same reconstructed root of proto-language as the given word.

   Hypernym: paronym

   Coordinate terms: etymon, derivative/reflex

Derived terms

• cognacy
• cognatic
• cognatically
• false cognate

Translations

word derived from the same roots as a given word

Afrikaans: kognaat Asturian: cognáu m Catalan: cognat (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 同源詞 / 同源词 (zh) (tóngyuáncí) Dutch: cognaat (nl) c Esperanto: kognato (eo) Finnish: sukulaissana (fi) French: cognat (fr) m, mot apparenté m Galician: cognado m Georgian: მონათესავე (monatesave) German: verwandtes Wort n, Kognat (de) n Hungarian: rokon szó, azonos/közös eredetű szó, közös tőből származó szó Icelandic: samstofna orð (is) Indonesian: kata kerabat Japanese: 同根語 (どうこんご, dōkongo) Khmer: បរិវារសព្ទ (bɑɑreʔvaasap) Malay: kognat, kata serumpun Polish: pokrewny / spokrewniony wyraz n Portuguese: cognato (pt) m Romanian: cuvânt înrudit n Russian: однокоренно́е сло́во n (odnokorennóje slóvo), когна́т (ru) m (kognát) Slovene: istoizvornica f Spanish: cognado (es) m Swedish: kognat (sv) c, släktord (sv) n Vietnamese: từ cùng gốc Welsh: gair cytras m Yiddish: קאָגנאַט m (kognat)

Related terms

• cognate accusative (accusative cognate, cognate object)

See also

• agnate
• derivation
• etymology
• etymon
• false friend
• root

Further reading

• cognate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• cognate (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cognates in the 1879 edition of The American Cyclopædia.

Anagrams

• coagent

Italian

Noun

cognate f

1. plural of cognata

Latin

Adjective

cognāte

1. vocative masculine singular of cognātus