Explore Cognates through 10+ example sentences from English, with an explanation of the meaning. Ideal for language learners, writers and word enthusiasts.
Cognates meaning
plural of cognate
Using Cognates
- The main meaning on this page is: plural of cognate
- In the example corpus, cognates often appears in combinations such as: cognates in, cognates include, false cognates.
Context around Cognates
- Average sentence length in these examples: 22.7 words
- Position in the sentence: 12 start, 7 middle, 1 end
- Sentence types: 19 statements, 1 questions, 0 exclamations
Corpus analysis for Cognates
- In this selection, "cognates" usually appears near the start of the sentence. The average example has 22.7 words, and this corpus slice is mostly made up of statements.
- Around the word, false, selected, various, may, main and include stand out and add context to how "cognates" is used.
- Recognizable usage signals include about 152 cognates in the and are themselves cognates from the. That gives this page its own corpus information beyond isolated example sentences.
- By corpus frequency, "cognates" sits close to words such as abating, abductors and abstaining, which helps place it inside the broader word index.
Example types with cognates
The same corpus examples are grouped by length and sentence type, making it easier to see the contexts in which the word appears:
At times, cognates may be semantic opposites. (7 words)
Borrowings or false cognates could skew or obscure the correct data. (11 words)
An alternative word with cognates in many languages is English 'puss' ('pussycat'). (12 words)
For example, Alaric Hall, noting that the cognates suggest matt white or soft white, has instead tentatively suggested that later evidence associating both elves and whiteness with beauty may indicate that it was this beauty that gave elves their name. (40 words)
Actualise (or 'actualize') in English means 'to make a reality of'. citation The word friend itself has cognates in the other Germanic languages; but the Scandinavian ones (like Swedish frände, Danish frænde) predominantly mean 'relative'. (35 words)
It begins with a paragraph on cognates for “egg” in several languages, and then shows us two little boys trying to say the word “egg” to describe a round, white object. (31 words)
Cognates This is a sampling of words in several Quechuan languages:main pronunciation? (13 words)
Example sentences (20)
False cognates main False cognates are words that people commonly believe are related (have a common origin), but that linguistic examination reveals are unrelated.
Selected cognates The following is a very brief selection of cognates in basic vocabulary across the Uralic family, which may serve to give an idea of the sound changes involved.
It begins with a paragraph on cognates for “egg” in several languages, and then shows us two little boys trying to say the word “egg” to describe a round, white object.
Actualise (or 'actualize') in English means 'to make a reality of'. citation The word friend itself has cognates in the other Germanic languages; but the Scandinavian ones (like Swedish frände, Danish frænde) predominantly mean 'relative'.
A description more true to the period would be'evangelical', a word which was indeed used at the time in various cognates".
An alternative word with cognates in many languages is English 'puss' ('pussycat').
As an example of false cognates, the Spanish word haber sounds and looks similar to the English word have, but are in fact unrelated.
At times, cognates may be semantic opposites.
Borrowings or false cognates could skew or obscure the correct data.
By contrast, Hawaiian and Tahitian have about 152 cognates in the list, so they are estimated as being 76% genetically related.
Characteristics of cognate words Cognates do not need to have the same meaning, which may have changed as the languages developed separately.
Cognates also do not need to have obviously similar forms, e.g. English father, French père, and Armenian հայր (hayr) all descend directly from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.
Cognates include Ancient Greek μέλι (méli) (honey), Latin mel, Spanish melaza (molasses), French miel (honey), and Portuguese melaço.
Cognates may exist but have become rare, such as finiestra in Spanish, or dropped out of use entirely.
Cognates may often be less easily recognised than the above examples, and authorities sometimes differ in their interpretations of the evidence.
Cognates outside of Germanic are Avestan yārǝ "year", Greek ὥρα main "year, season, period of time" (whence " hour "), Old Church Slavonic jarŭ and Latin hornus "of this year".
Cognates This is a sampling of words in several Quechuan languages:main pronunciation?
Contemporary traditions In modern Germanic language-speaking areas and some other Northern European countries, historical cognates to English yule denote the Christmas holiday season.
Corn was originally the dominant type of grain in a region (indeed corn and grain are themselves cognates from the same Indo-European root).
For example, Alaric Hall, noting that the cognates suggest matt white or soft white, has instead tentatively suggested that later evidence associating both elves and whiteness with beauty may indicate that it was this beauty that gave elves their name.
Common combinations with cognates
These word pairs occur most frequently in English texts:
- cognates in 12×
- cognates include 5×
- false cognates 4×
- cognates may 4×
- cognates of 3×
- its cognates 3×
- cognates are 2×
- cognates the 2×
- cognates for 2×
- has cognates 2×