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COGNATE: From a common original form, as two words; related, similar... (Webster’s New World Dictionary) For our purposes, cognates are words in two different languages which share a common origin, and which are often similar in pronunciation, spelling, and meaning. English and Spanish share literally thousands of cognates — that is one of the major reasons Spanish is a relatively easy language for English speakers to learn. Unfortunately, though, not all words which appear similar are. Hundreds of years of separate development have caused words which originally had the same meaning in (usually) Latin to develop different meanings in the two languages. These meanings can be radically different — see embarazado and groserķa. We call these words false cognates; they are sometimes called "false friends" or falsos amigos. Obviously, the potential for embarrassment and misunderstanding is great with false cognates. The most practical solution to the problem is to learn the false cognates, which number in total less than two hundred. Trying to learn all the cognates between English and Spanish would be a herculean task, and it isn’t necessary: cognates are the easiest part of a language, and once heard are seldom forgotten. Once you have learned to avoid the use of false cognates, the "true" cognates can be readily used, and greatly facilitate your use of Spanish. We have compiled a list of 141 of the most common false cognates, and believe it to be about the most complete available. We are also aware, though, that we have doubtless missed some. As always, we would appreciate your suggestions for inclusion of new cognates, refinement of definitions, etc. Finally, we believe that a good familiarity with false
cognates is one of the most useful tools the English speaker learning Spanish can acquire,
and urge you to look this section over thoroughly. x x x x x x x x x x x xx x x x
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