Etymologically
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cognitive

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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