English
Noun
cognacy (countable and uncountable , plural cognacies )
( linguistics ) The relationship between cognates ; the condition of sharing a common ancestor term in another language.
2000 , Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse, African Languages: An Introduction , →ISBN , page 262 :First, in depending on vocabulary, as opposed to morphology or grammar, one runs the risk of assuming cognacy between similar words when the real explanation is borrowing.
( linguistics ) The degree to which two languages share cognates , usually expressed as a percentage
1988 , Monday B. Abasiattai, Expanding frontiers of African history: the inter-disciplinary methodology [1] , →ISBN , page 255 :In Table 13.1 are given the percentages for the degrees of cognacy between pairs of languages in the Upper Cross group.
Synonyms
Further reading
“cognacy ”, in OneLook Dictionary Search .