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cognate

/ˈkɑɡn(e)ɪt/adjective, noun

cognate is spelled C-O-G-N-A-T-E: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, cognate means “Allied by blood; kindred by birth; specifically (law) related on the mother's side” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cognate?

Letters7: C-O-G-N-A-T-E
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 45,947th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is cognate?

Cognate appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,947th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cognate?

  • UK /ˈkɒɡn(e)ɪt/
  • US /ˈkɑɡn(e)ɪt/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cognate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of cognate

  • cogn.
  • cognates plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cognate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

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

  2. 2

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

  3. 3

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

noun

  1. 1

    One of a number of things allied in origin or nature.

  2. 2

    datedOne who is related to another on the female side.

  3. 3

    datedOne who is related to another, both having descended from a common ancestor through legal marriages.

  4. 4

    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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate cognate?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of cognate: cogn..

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cognate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Germankognat, blutverwandt (kindred by birth), verwandt, etymologisch verwandt, stammverwandt, urverwandt (descended from the same attested source lexeme…)
Spanishemparentado, familiar (kindred by birth), cognado (descended from the same attested source lexeme…)
Frenchapparenté (descended from the same attested source lexeme…), mot apparenté, cognat (word derived from the same roots as a given word)
Portuguesecognato (descended from the same attested source lexeme…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cognate come from?

Borrowed from Latin cognātus (“related by blood”), from co- + gnātus (“born”). Compare Portuguese cognato and Spanish cognado. Doublet of connate and cognatus.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after cognate