cognitive

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɒɡ.nɪ.tɪv/ (UK); /ˈkɑɡ.nɪ.tɪv/, /ˈkɒɡ.nɪ.tɪv/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Medieval Latin cognitivus,^[2] or formed from cognition and -ive,^[3] from Latin cognit-, the past participle stem of cognōscere (“to get to know, recognize”),^[4][2] from com-, together, and gnōscere, to know, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gno- (“to know”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or pertaining to cognition: 1586 in the OED and MWU, the 1580s in Etymonline.^[5][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Psychologists and sociologists took the word over from about 1940.^[4] Cognitive dissonance, the distress of holding contradictory beliefs, apparently coined by the American social psychologist Leon Festinger, is from 1957.^[4] Cognitive science is from 1975 and cognitive scientist from 1980.^[5]

Timeline

• 1586 – of cognition.^[5]
• c. 1940 – in psychology.^[4]
• 1957 – cognitive dissonance.^[4]
• 1975 – cognitive science.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or relating to cognition, the mental processes of knowing, thinking and perceiving.
2. Based on or reducible to factual knowledge.

Word family

• cognitively
• cognitivity
• noncognitive
• cognitive dissonance
• cognitive psychology
• cognitive science
• cognitive therapy

Related words

• cognate
• cognition
• cognizable
• cognizant
• recognize
• know
• incognito

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press