What Are Common English-German Cognates

A cognate is a word that has the same root as a similar word in another language  and looks and sounds similar. True cognates will have the same or similar definitions in both languages. Since English has some Germanic roots, there are a fair number of English-German cognates. While the words may look slightly different due to the German alphabet, English speakers will probably be able to figure out what the words mean. For instance, the German word Haus is a cognate of the English word house.   The Diverse Origin of the English Language English also has roots in Latin just like Romance languages such as Spanish, French and Italian, which is why there are so many cognates between those languages and English (and each other). In all Romance languages, for instance, the word for mother is fairly recognizable: French is mà ¨re, and in Spanish and Italian both its  madre. Even the non-Romance German language follows this similarity; the German word for mother is Mutter. Its worth noting that relying on cognates is not a foolproof way to learn another language. Thats because theres  a whole other category of similar-looking words in other closely-related languages that have different definitions. These are called false cognates. In German, one example would be bald, which means soon, but to English speakers resembles the synonym for hairless.   But for the purposes of this article, well stick to the true cognates. Here are some common words in English and German that look and sound the nearly the same  with similar definitions, listed alphabetically. English words are listed first.   A accent: Akzent affair: Affà ¤re alone:  allein apple:  Apfel athlete: Athlet B baby: Baby banana:  Banane battery:  Batterie blue:  blau book:  Buch C cat:  Katze check (as in banking): Scheck coffee:  Kaffee cow:  Kuh crown:  Krone D dance:  Tanz defect: Defekt diamond:  Diamant doctor: Doktor drink:  trinken E effective:  effectiv elbow:  Ellenbogen energy:  Energie espresso:  Espresso exact:  exakt F fabulous:  fabulà ¶s false:  falsch fever:  Fieber foot:  Fuß friend:  Freund/  Freundin G garden:  Garten glass:  Glas grandfather:  Großvater grey: grau guest:  Gast H hair:  Haar hammer:  hà ¤mmern head:  Haupt* holy:  heilig hotel:  Hotel I ice:  Eis immune:  immun influence:  Einfluss insect:  Insekt intense/intensive:  intensiv J jazz:  Jazz jet (plane):  Jet   jewel:  Juwel   juggle:  jonglieren justice:  Justiz   K kangaroo:  Kà ¤nguru kayak:  Kajak kettle:  Kessel kitchen:  Kà ¼che knee:  Knie L ladder: Leiter laugh:  lachen learn:  lernen live:  leben love: lieben M machine:  Maschine massive:  massiv milk:  Milch mother:  Mutter mouse:  Maus N naked:  nackt   negative:  negativ new:  neu nine:  neun nut:  Nuss O object:  Objekt ocean:  Ozean often:  oft omelette:  Omelett original:  Original P pair, couple:  s Paar panic:  e Panik perfect:  perfekt   prize:  Preis pure:  pur Q quality:  Qualità ¤t quartz:  Quarz quiche:  Quiche   quiz:  Quiz quote: quotieren R radio:  Radio recipe:  Rezept regular:  regulà ¤r religious:  religà ¶s romance:  Romanze S sauce:  Soße school:  Schule season:  Saison seven:  sieben son:  Sohn V vacuum:  Vakuum vehemence:  Vehemenz violin:  Violine vitamin:  Vitamin vulgar:  vulgà ¤r