I. ˈkägˌnāt, usu -ād.+V adjective
Etymology: Latin cognatus, from co- + gnatus, natus, past participle of nasci to be born; akin to Latin gignere to beget — more at kin
1.
a. : related by blood : kindred by birth
cognate families
a family cognate with another
a boy cognate to several royal families
b. : related on the mother's side — used in some legal systems
2.
a. of a language : related by descent from the same recorded or assumed ancestral language
Spanish and French are cognate languages
— often used with with, sometimes with to
English is cognate to German
b. of a word or morpheme : related by descent from the same root or affixal element in a recorded or assumed ancestral language
English eat and German essen are cognate
Latin -us and Old Norse -r are cognate
or by the processes of derivation or composition within a single language
English boyish and boyhood are cognate
— often used with with, sometimes with to
English foot is cognate with Greek pous
c. of a word : related in a manner that involves borrowing rather than descent from or as well as descent from an ancestral language
English tobacco and French tabac are cognate
— often used with with, sometimes with to
German panzer is cognate with English paunch
d. of a substantive : related usually in derivation but sometimes only in meaning to the verb of which it is the object (as song in “she sang the song”; race in “he ran the race”)
cognate object
cognate accusative
3. : related, akin, or similar especially in having the same or common or similar nature, elements, qualities, or origin
illustrated books and cognate reference materials — Current Biography
you know exactly how a man looks and behaves and, with cognate clarity, something of what he feels and thinks — Thomas Dozier
action engendered in regard to drugs may spill over into the cognate problem of the alcoholic — New Republic
4.
a. : closely related logically through certain specifiable factors ; especially of propositions : having the same subject or predicate
b. : belonging to volcanic fragments in solidified lava which are part of the same extrusion
c. : homorganic
• cog·nate·ly adverb
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin cognatus, from cognatus, adjective
: one that is cognate with another: as
a. : a person related to another on the mother's side — compare agnate
b. : a cognate word or morpheme