The word accident in English is very similar to the word accidente in Spanish. — example of a cognate.
Cognates are words with a similar (and sometimes even identical!) spelling and pronunciation. Identical cognates are also called perfect cognates. “Cognates comes from the Latin noun cognatus, which means “related by blood”.
Sometimes we can use the word cognate as an adjective to mean a relation or a connection. Here is an example of sentence where we used the word “cognate” as an adjective:
Mike enjoys eating cognate foods like oranges or tangerines.
Be aware of false cognates!
False cognates are pair of words that are similar in form or sound, but they have a completely different meaning and are not etymologically related. For example, the English library is similar to the Romanian librarie (which means bookshop and not library).
How are cognates able to help
Knowing cognates is extremely helpful when learning a new language (or when traveling in a foreign country). Especially for beginning language learners, cognates are one of the easiest tools to help recognize words.
