page_title: Cognate
hierarchical_section_title: Cognate
caption_attribution_description: Graphical representation of the relationships between etymologically-related words. Note that 'etymon' is used in linguistic jargon, while 'root' is the more common colloquial term.
context_page_description: In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. Cognates are often inherited from a shared parent language, but they may also involve borrowings from some other language. For example, the English words dish and desk and the German word Tisch are cognates because they all come from Latin discus, which relates to their flat surfaces. Cognates may have evolved similar, different or even opposite meanings, but in most cases there are some similar sounds or letters in the words, in some cases appearing to be dissimilar. Some words sound similar, but do not come from the same root; these are called false cognates, while some are truly cognate but differ in meaning; these are called false friends.
  The word cognate derives from the Latin noun cognatus, which means "blood relative".
context_section_description: In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. Cognates are often inherited from a shared parent language, but they may also involve borrowings from some other language. For example, the English words dish and desk and the German word Tisch ("table") are cognates because they all come from Latin discus, which relates to their flat surfaces. Cognates may have evolved similar, different or even opposite meanings, but in most cases there are some similar sounds or letters in the words, in some cases appearing to be dissimilar. Some words sound similar, but do not come from the same root; these are called false cognates, while some are truly cognate but differ in meaning; these are called false friends.
  The word cognate derives from the Latin noun cognatus, which means "blood relative".
caption: Diagram showing relationships between etymologically-related words
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