cognates the use of the word cognate in the english language section is inaccurate cognates are words that have the same root but are specifically not directly borrowed from one language into the other as was the case with norman french words that were borrowed into english to name foods the more appropriate word would be borrowings an example of actual cognates would be the english cheese and the german k se cheese is derived from the same word as k se but it was subjected to the sound changes that occurred in the history of english instead of those that occurred in german rather than being directly borrowed from german into english or vice versa