cognate

[kog-neyt]

adjective

1. related by birth; of the same parentage, descent, etc.

2. Linguistics.,  descended from the same language or form.

   such cognate languages as French and Spanish.

3. allied or similar in nature or quality.

noun

1. a person or thing cognate with another.

2. a cognate word.

   The English word cold is a cognate of German kalt.

cognate

/ ˈkɒɡneɪt /

adjective

1. akin; related

   cognate languages

2. related by blood or descended from a common maternal ancestor Compare agnate

3. grammar a noun functioning as the object of a verb to which it is etymologically related, as in think a thought or sing a song

noun

1. something that is cognate with something else

Other Word Forms

• cognation noun
• cognateness noun
• cognately adverb
• cognatic adjective
• noncognate adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cognate¹

1635–45; < Latin cognātus, equivalent to co- co- + -gnātus (past participle of gnāscī, nāscī to be born)

Word History and Origins

Origin of cognate¹

C17: from Latin cognātus, from co- same + gnātus born, variant of nātus, past participle of nāscī to be born

Example Sentences

The word “pajama” stems from Persian/Farsi, as I learned in my medieval Persian seminar in college after a life of speaking Farsi at home but somehow never registering the echo of this particular cognate.

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So I could tell you who his cognates are for Achilles, Hector, Helen of Troy, Aphrodite, Odysseus and a whole bunch of others.

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But the last word in his name is a cognate for the Chinese word for death, which bothers more superstitious clientele.

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There's no close cognate to Liz Truss in American politics, and there's definitely nothing similar to the bizarre intra-party process that has landed her in Downing Street.

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“Domain” derives from Old French, denoting heritable or landed property; its Latin-derived cognate, “domicile,” means, of course, “home.”

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