English

Noun

cognacy ‎(plural cognacies)

1. (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 0521666295, 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.

2. (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, ISBN 9780070001, 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

• (relationship between cognates): cognateness