Etymology

cognition

cog·ni·tion
C3O1G2N1I1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: The process of knowing, of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought and through the senses. Full definition →

Middle English cognicioun ← Latin cognitiō ← Proto-Italic *gnōskō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Latincon-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ǵneh₃-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*ǵn̥h₃sḱéti
  8. Proto-Italic*gnōskō
  9. Latingnōscō
  10. Latincognōscō
  11. Latincognitiō
  12. Middle Englishcognicioun
  13. English todaycognition

From Middle English cognicion, cognicioun from Latin cognitiō (“knowledge, perception, a judicial examination, trial”), from cognitus, past participle of cognoscere (“to know”), from co- (“together”) + *gnoscere, older form of noscere (“to know”); see know, and compare cognize, cognizance, cognizor, cognosce, connoisseur.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.