What Does Cognates Mean?

1 : of the same or similar nature : generically alike the cognate fields of film and theater. 2 : related by blood a family cognate with another also : related on the mother's side. 3a : related by descent from the same ancestral language Spanish and French are cognate languages.

What is an example of a cognate?

A cognate is a word that is related in origin to another word, such as the English word brother and the German word bruder or the English word history and the Spanish word historia. ... For example, the words fragile and frail both came from the Latin word fragilis.

What is a cognate word?

Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. ... One example of a cognate with multiple meanings is asistir, which means to assist (same meaning) but also to attend (different meaning).